Sean O’Malley has recently found himself on the wrong side of MMA’s premier promotion after turning down the chance to fight at UFC 268.
On November 6, the UFC will return to Madison Square Garden in New York with a welterweight title fight between Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington.
The UFC are clearly intent on beefing the pay-per-view event up and have already added an eagerly anticipated lightweight match-up between Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler to the card.
O’Malley was also being targeted for the event before he turned down the chance to fight at UFC 268 and subsequently felt the wrath of matchmaker, Sean Shelby.
During an episode of The BrO’Malley Show, ‘Suga’ explained his reasons for refusing to fight at UFC 268.
“I don’t even know if I’m supposed to say this…Sean Shelby was mad at me,” O’Malley said. “Dude, I don’t wanna fight in New York. It’s far, the taxes are ridiculous, and Tim (Welch) has no-Gi or no, ADCC trials that weekend. And he told me that before I even potentially had a fight. So, that’s his thing, and I’m not gonna say, ‘No. I have a fight’. We’re doing it, especially when I could fight like a month later in Vegas.
Apparently, those reasons didn’t fly with Shelby who responded in an angry fashion.
“Sean Shelby was just like, mad and like, ‘Fine. Go hang out with 6ix9ine’. Like, just acting like a f**king tool, dude,” O’Malley said. “So, I don’t know if I should’ve said that or not. But it’s like, dude, come on. What do you do?”
“They don’t need me,” O’Malley added. “But don’t treat me like that. Like, act like I’m not training or nothing. ‘Go, you’re hanging out with 6ix9ine, dude’. Like, I’m hanging out with him once. Well, three days, but, man, don’t make it up.”
O’Malley says in future fight negotiations he’d rather not deal with Shelby and hopes to speak with UFC president, Dana White directly.
“Yeah, so, it’s like, ‘Cool, dude. Treat me like a piece of s**t’. No, it’s like, dude, I would rather not deal with him at all and just deal with (UFC president) Dana (White),”
The bantamweight prospect also suggests there was an issue with his pay.
“He said, ‘I know you’re going to be asking for a lot of money’. It’s like, no s**t! I’m pulling f**king numbers, dude,” O’Malley said. “You can’t deny that. It’s like, why do they have a problem paying someone what they’re worth? That shouldn’t be an issue. That should be like, especially when I’m blowing up like that. Those last two fights – Third-round finishes – Handing out brain damage. Like, dude, you should be like, ‘Hell yeah. I’m gonna pay you a lot. You’ve earned it’.” (Transcribed by Sportskeeda)
Do you think Sean O’Malley and Sean Shelby can fix this issue?