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UFC 269 goes down Saturday in Las Vegas, Nevada. It’s the final UFC pay-per-view on the 2021 calendar, and it looks like it could be one of the promotion’s best shows of the year…
UFC 269 goes down Saturday in Las Vegas, Nevada. It’s the final UFC pay-per-view on the 2021 calendar, and it looks like it could be one of the promotion’s best shows of the year…
Rising UFC bantamweight Sean O’Malley has described former two-division champion Conor McGregor as the only person he’s ever “looked up to.”
While not doing so as quickly and emphatically as McGregor did over five years ago, O’Malley has fast-grown…
Rising UFC bantamweight Sean O’Malley has described former two-division champion Conor McGregor as the only person he’s ever “looked up to.”
While not doing so as quickly and emphatically as McGregor did over five years ago, O’Malley has fast-grown into one of the most recognizable names in the UFC. That’s despite having never fought a ranked opponent.
Since returning from a USADA suspension in 2020, O’Malley has impressed. Two quick victories, including a highlight-reel Knockout of the Year contender against Eddie Wineland at UFC 250, saw him re-establish himself as one of the division’s hottest prospects.
Although a case of drop foot led to “Sugar” being beaten for the first time in MMA by Marlon Vera last August, two memorable victories since have got him back on track. First was a brutal knockout against Thomas Almeida, before a record-breaking striking performance against debutant Kris Moutinho at UFC 264 saw the 27-year-old collect his fifth bonus in six fights.
He’ll hope to continue that lucrative trend when he returns to the Octagon for the third time in 2021 this weekend. In the UFC 269 main card opener, O’Malley will face the once-ranked Raulian Paiva.
Ahead of his upcoming fight, O’Malley has spoken about the inspiration he drew from MMA’s biggest superstar while his grind to get into the UFC was ongoing. During an interview with ESPN MMA’s Brett Okamoto, “Sugar” spoke about meeting McGregor earlier this year, and claimed the Irishman is the only person he’s ever looked up to.
McGregor has consistently caused controversy outside of the Octagon. From punching an old man in a Dublin bar to appearing to throw a strike at Machine Gun Kelly to allegedly breaking the nose of an Italian DJ, it’s hard to see the Dublin native as an ideal role model. Nevertheless, O’Malley suggested he’s learned a lot from McGregor, both inside and outside of the cage.
“We were at the Cowboys game and we just happened to be in the same suite. I finally got to meet him. It’s been a long time (coming). I’ve seen him on fight week; that’s not the time to talk to Conor, especially not right off the scale. It was cool, you know. I’ve watched his whole career play out. I’ve learned a lot from him. Outside (the Octagon), what not to do, what to do; inside, certain techniques, mindset, mental warfare. I’ve learned a lot from Conor. He’s probably the only person I could say I’ve ever kind of, looked up to. Like, ‘Damn, I wanna be that big.’ I wanna change the sport like Conor did.”
For those reasons, O’Malley’s encounter with McGregor at the AT&T Stadium was likely a moment to remember for the 27-year-old. Despite admitting the interaction was relatively short, the surging bantamweight star revealed the former double champ congratulated him on his performance against Moutinho, which opened the July pay-per-view headlined by McGregor’s trilogy with Dustin Poirier.
“We had a short conversation. It was very loud… He just walked in and we saw each other. He obviously knows who the Sugar Show is, I’m the second biggest draw in the UFC. He knows who I am, he watches the fights. He said, you know, ‘Great performance in your last fight.’ It wasn’t a long conversation.”
Despite having a long way to go before he comes close to replicating the success McGregor has achieved in MMA, O’Malley can jump one step closer to doing so with a third win in 2021 this Saturday.
An impressive victory over Paiva could well see him enter the 135-pound rankings. From there, the climb towards title contention will begin.
Do you think Sean O’Malley can emulate Conor McGregor’s success in the UFC?
Continue Reading Sean O’Malley: McGregor Is The Only Person I’ve Ever Looked Up To at MMA News.
Sean O’Malley expressed his desire to match up with Jose Aldo in the future when speaking in a video posted to his YouTube channel. The American will look to continue his hot streak when he enters the Octagon this weekend to take on Raulian Paiva at UFC 269. O’Malley comes into this bout following on […]
Sean O’Malley expressed his desire to match up with Jose Aldo in the future when speaking in a video posted to his YouTube channel.
The American will look to continue his hot streak when he enters the Octagon this weekend to take on Raulian Paiva at UFC 269. O’Malley comes into this bout following on from his striking masterclass against the tough Kris Moutinho.
‘Suga’ spoke about Jose Aldo and was full of praise for the Brazilian, who himself has seen a career resurgence following on from his move down to bantamweight which started off with two losses for the former featherweight champion. However, since then he has gone on to pick up three wins in his new division, with his most recent outing a strong five-round display against Rob Font.
“Aldo’s a tough fight 100 percent. Got to be so f***ing sweet to fight him someday. We’re on track, I mean we got a f***ing couple wins and we could fight him… He’s so good at countering a jab, his f***ing pull twos are so fast… I think that’s why you switch stances, throwing different jabs and stuff but yeah, I mean in the third round or the fourth round, he (Aldo) was kicking the f**k out of his leg, but he didn’t throw one until then which is crazy.” (transcribed by sporkskeeda.com)
Following on from his victory over Rob Font, Aldo expressed his interest in fighting for the title but given time schedules and Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling needing to face each other first, Aldo was also open to the idea of fighting TJ Dillashaw.
Sean O’Malley made no illusion of the fact that he would need to win a few more fights to earn himself a matchup with Aldo. So, given he can get past Paiva this weekend who would you like to see O’Malley take on next? Just above him in the rankings sits Marlon Moraes who would provide a good test for O’Malley or given the comments he made earlier this week could a potential match-up with Dominic Cruz be the next step for ‘Sugar’.
Do you think Sean O’Malley beats Raulian Paiva this weekend at UFC 269?
Raulian Paiva feels he knows the way to beat Sean O’Malley at UFC 269.
There is an exciting bantamweight matchup on the card this weekend at UFC 269. Sean O’Malley will be taking on Raulian Paiva on the main card portion of the event. O’Malley has …
Raulian Paiva feels he knows the way to beat Sean O’Malley at UFC 269.
There is an exciting bantamweight matchup on the card this weekend at UFC 269. Sean O’Malley will be taking on Raulian Paiva on the main card portion of the event. O’Malley has been successful at making himself known in the MMA world. He is a fan favorite both inside the cage and out. However, his opponent Paiva feels that he may be too much show and not enough fight.
Paiva spoke to MMA Fighting a bit about his game plan coming into this bout against O’Malley, and how he feels he can be victorious.
“He lost when he fought a top fighter. Marlon Vera is very experienced, has many fights in the UFC, he put pressure over him and that’s it,” Paiva said. “He wimped out, got desperate and that happened, he got TKO’d. … There are fighters that only know how to hit but drop in performance when they are under pressure, and that’s what I see in O’Malley.
Paiva came to the UFC in 2019 after a win on The Dana White Contender Series. He has now won three in a row, most recently a decision victory over Kyler Phillips in July. O’Malley has had a similar journey as Paiva. He was awarded a contract on DWCS and has now only lost one fight in the UFC. Despite his stellar record, Paiva sees holes in O’Malley’s game and plans to expose them.
“If you give him space he’ll do his thing, but he’ll start to get desperate and make mistakes more and more if you don’t give him space,” Paiva said. “That’s basically what I’ll do. I’ll make him make mistakes at his own game. I’m going there to pressure him from the first to the third round, if we get to the third round.”
UFC 269 takes place on Dec. 11 live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Do you think Raulian Paiva’s game plan for defeating Sean O’Malley will work at UFc 269?
Continue Reading Raulian Paiva Believes He Will Make O’Malley “Wimp Out” At UFC 269 at MMA News.
UFC bantamweight star Sean O’Malley is “100%” certain he’ll have the chance to exact revenge on Marlon Vera in a rematch down the line.
The pair fought at UFC 252 last August. At the time, O’Malley was unbeaten and riding high off two finishes foll…
UFC bantamweight star Sean O’Malley is “100%” certain he’ll have the chance to exact revenge on Marlon Vera in a rematch down the line.
The pair fought at UFC 252 last August. At the time, O’Malley was unbeaten and riding high off two finishes following his return to action in March that year. In his previous outing, he’d recorded a Knockout of the Year contender against veteran Eddie Wineland. Vera, meanwhile, fell on the wrong side of a tight decision against Song Yadong in his prior appearance, a loss that snapped his five-fight winning streak.
Upsetting the odds inside the UFC Apex, Vera added the first blemish to O’Malley’s record with a first-round TKO. The stoppage came after the Ecuadorian’s leg kicks appeared to injure “Sugar,” seemingly disabling his foot after connecting with the perennial nerve.
Since then, both men have had success. After falling short of contention four months later with a defeat to former featherweight champion José Aldo, “Chito” re-established himself as a force to be reckoned with thanks to two impressive wins in 2021. Having avenged his loss to Davey Grant in June, Vera shot closer to the top 10 with a highlight-reel knockout of former 155-pound titleholder Frankie Edgar at UFC 268.
In the same period, O’Malley rebounded with two wins. A brutal knockout against former hot prospect Thomas Almeida was followed by a record-breaking striking performance against promotional newcomer Kris Moutinho at UFC 264 in July. He’ll have the chance to secure a third victory in 2021 this weekend when he faces Raulian Paiva.
Despite having a tough opponent in front of him, O’Malley has never been one to shy away from discussing his future plans and possible matchups in the UFC. During a recent appearance on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, “Sugar” was asked about his former foe Vera.
Addressing the ranked bantamweight’s latest appearance in the Octagon, O’Malley reluctantly admitted it was a good performance, but suggested they wouldn’t be having the conversation had the fight against Edgar lasted another minute.
“Did he? (look good in his last fight). I did watch, I just didn’t know if you were being serious or not. I thought it was a pretty decent performance. I mean, I thought a minute left he would’ve lost that fight and I don’t think we’d be saying the same thing, but he won, he got the job done, and that’s all that matters. So yeah, I guess you consider that a good performance.”
When asked if he believes he’ll run it back with “Chito” at some point in the future, O’Malley suggested a rematch with the Ecuadorian is “100%” going to happen at some point. That’s despite Vera’s previous claims that O’Malley already turned down the chance to face him again.
“Yes, 100%. I think it’s gonna happen 100%… there’s a time and place for that fight, and I think it’s gonna be a big fight. It’s gonna happen. I don’t know when, I don’t know if soon, sooner or later, but it’ll happen,” said O’Malley.
Despite being unranked, it’s hard to imagine that would come in the way of a possible rematch with Vera. However, “Chito” is setting his targets high for his next outing. He recently called out Aldo for a rematch following the Brazilian’s five-round triumph over Rob Font last weekend.
Should O’Malley emerge victorious at UFC 269 this Saturday, he’s perhaps only one more victory away from closing the gap on Vera in the rankings and making a second clash a real possibility.
How do you a think a rematch between Sean O’Malley and Marlon Vera would play out?
Continue Reading Sean O’Malley Says Vera Rematch Is “Gonna Happen 100%” at MMA News.
Sean O’Malley recalled his conversation with Conor McGregor at the Los Angeles Chargers vs Dallas Cowboys game this past September. O’Malley was being interviewed for his upcoming fight at UFC 269 this Saturday Dec. 11th, when he recounted how he admired ‘The Notorious’ during his ascendance. ‘Sugar’ and McGregor have a very similar set of […]
Sean O’Malley recalled his conversation with Conor McGregor at the Los Angeles Chargers vs Dallas Cowboys game this past September.
O’Malley was being interviewed for his upcoming fight at UFC 269 this Saturday Dec. 11th, when he recounted how he admired ‘The Notorious’ during his ascendance. ‘Sugar’ and McGregor have a very similar set of skills and it is obvious that O’Malley has taken a lot from McGregor’s stand up game.
The two are very much characters outside the octagon and both know how to sell fights. Many would say that McGregor laid the blueprint out for O’Malley to follow.
“We were at a Cowboys game. And we happened to be in the same suite… I’ve watched his whole career play out and learned a lot from him… Conor’s the only person I’ve looked up to and thought, ‘Damn! I want to be that big.’ I want to change the sport like Conor did… We had a short conversation. It was loud in there… He knows who the ‘Sugar’ show is. He watches the fights. He said, ‘Great performance on your last fight.’ It wasn’t a long conversation… He might have had a couple of shots of Proper 12 maybe and he’s got a thick accent, especially when he’s buzzed up a bit.” (Transcribed by Sportskeeda)
It is quite obvious that McGregor loves his ‘Proper 12’ whisky and it wouldn’t be a stretch to say he may have been a bit buzzed at the game. One thing for certain is, McGregor did take MMA to another level. Whether you love him or hate him, you must admit he brought the UFC to heights that many didn’t believe the sport could reach.
O’Malley possesses the same sort of power that McGrgeor showcased when he was making his rise in the featherweight division. O’Malley has a tough task ahead of him at UFC 269 when he takes on Raulian Paiva. Paiva has won three fights in a row and holds a professional record of 21-3.
Do you think the ‘Sugar Show’ rolls on this weekend? Can O’Malley make a run through the bantamweight division like McGregor did to the featherweight division?