Tag: Sean O’Malley

Sean O’Malley Proclaims Himself “The Face Of The Fight Game”

Sean O’Malley has called himself the face of the fight game. O’Malley is one of the biggest stars in the UFC as he boasts 1.9 million followers on Instagram and has a loyal fanbase on his YouTube and Twitch channels. Although he isn’t ranked in the bantamweight division, he took to Instagram on his birthday […]

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Sean O’Malley has called himself the face of the fight game.

O’Malley is one of the biggest stars in the UFC as he boasts 1.9 million followers on Instagram and has a loyal fanbase on his YouTube and Twitch channels. Although he isn’t ranked in the bantamweight division, he took to Instagram on his birthday to proclaim himself the face of the fight game.

“Undefeated, Rich, face of the fight game. 27. Life’s good. Love you guys,” O’Malley wrote on Instagram.

It shouldn’t be a surprise to see O’Malley say he is the face of the fight game. He does say a lot of stuff to troll other fighters and fans, like how he says he is still undefeated despite the loss to Marlon Vera.

Sean O’Malley (14-1) is set to return to the Octagon on the main card of the stacked UFC 269 card on December 11 in Las Vegas. He will face Raulian Paiva who beat his teammate, Kyler Phillips last time out. Although Paiva was ranked at the time, “Suga” says he still got a lot of backlash from fans.

“How sweet is that that you finally get a fight. Cus’ when you don’t have a fight it’s like, are you even gonna fight on December 11th,” O’Malley said on the TimboSugar Show. “But it’s f***ing sweet, what a good match. Number 15. It’s f***ing awesome seeing all the comments: ‘Fight someone ranked.’ Now I’m fighting someone ranked, they’re like ‘who’s this?”

O’Malley is riding a two-fight winning streak as he’s coming off a TKO win over Kris Moutinho back in July. Before that, he knocked out Thomas Almeida to return to the win column after the TKO loss to Marlon Vera.

Do you agree with Sean O’Malley that he is the face of the fight game?

Continue Reading Sean O’Malley Proclaims Himself “The Face Of The Fight Game” at MMA News.

Sandhagen Thinks Even O’Malley Knows His Yan Callout Was Ridiculous

UFC bantamweight Cory Sandhagen believes Sean O’Malley’s recent callout of Petr Yan was “ridiculous,” something he thinks even “Sugar” himself knows. Sandhagen’s comments came after it was announced that he would be replacing 135-pound champion Aljamain Sterling at UFC 267. “Funk Master” was originally scheduled to put his title on the line for the first […]

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UFC bantamweight Cory Sandhagen believes Sean O’Malley’s recent callout of Petr Yan was “ridiculous,” something he thinks even “Sugar” himself knows.

Sandhagen’s comments came after it was announced that he would be replacing 135-pound champion Aljamain Sterling at UFC 267. “Funk Master” was originally scheduled to put his title on the line for the first time in a rematch against Petr Yan later this month. However, after failing to secure medical clearance due to his ongoing recovery from neck surgery, the champ was forced to withdraw from the non-pay-per-view numbered Abu Dhabi event.

In his place will be “The Sandman.” The #3-ranked contender, who is coming off a tight split decision loss to TJ Dillashaw, will compete for interim gold against Yan on October 30. Despite the short-notice opportunity, the 29-year-old is confident he’ll be able to beat “No Mercy.”

Even with the relatively quick announcement, Sandhagen’s place in the matchup wasn’t without competition. Rob Font was apparently offered the chance to face Yan first. When he couldn’t accept the bout due to COVID-19, “The Sandman” was next in the queue and seemed the obvious choice.

Nevertheless, that didn’t stop surging bantamweight personality Sean O’Malley from taking advantage of the situation by throwing his name into the hat. Not only did “Sugar” call Yan out on social media, but he suggested he was training to face him and would “sleep the Russian in one.”

After his spot in the UFC 267 co-main event was secured, Sandhagen looked back on on O’Malley’s apparent willingness to jump the queue to a title shot. During an appearance on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, the Colorado native suggested the idea of the 26-year-old replacing Sterling was crazy.

“No, I think that that would’ve kinda been ridiculous for the real fans, right? Someone who hasn’t even fought in the top 10, for him to jump to a championship fight would’ve seemed a little ridiculous. I think that he’d probably agree with that, too.”

O’Malley has only met one ranked opponent inside the Octagon. He collided with Marlon “Chito” Vera at UFC 252. After a compromised leg saw him grounded and beaten via TKO inside the opening round, “Sugar” had the only blemish of his career to date added to his record.

Having returned to form with a brutal finish of Thomas Almeida in March and a record-breaking striking performance against promotional newcomer Kris Moutinho at UFC 264, O’Malley has brought his name back into the bantamweight conversation.

After turning down a matchup with former UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar at UFC 268 because of his coach Tim Welch’s prior commitments, O’Malley will now meet the #15-ranked Raulian Paiva at UFC 269 on December 11.

How would you have reacted if Sean O’Malley replaced Aljamain Sterling at UFC 267?

Continue Reading Sandhagen Thinks Even O’Malley Knows His Yan Callout Was Ridiculous at MMA News.

Sandhagen Thinks Even O’Malley Knows His Yan Callout Was Ridiculous

UFC bantamweight Cory Sandhagen believes Sean O’Malley’s recent callout of Petr Yan was “ridiculous,” something he thinks even “Sugar” himself knows. Sandhagen’s comments came after it was announced that he would be replacing 135-pound champion Aljamain Sterling at UFC 267. “Funk Master” was originally scheduled to put his title on the line for the first […]

Continue Reading Sandhagen Thinks Even O’Malley Knows His Yan Callout Was Ridiculous at MMA News.

UFC bantamweight Cory Sandhagen believes Sean O’Malley’s recent callout of Petr Yan was “ridiculous,” something he thinks even “Sugar” himself knows.

Sandhagen’s comments came after it was announced that he would be replacing 135-pound champion Aljamain Sterling at UFC 267. “Funk Master” was originally scheduled to put his title on the line for the first time in a rematch against Petr Yan later this month. However, after failing to secure medical clearance due to his ongoing recovery from neck surgery, the champ was forced to withdraw from the non-pay-per-view numbered Abu Dhabi event.

In his place will be “The Sandman.” The #3-ranked contender, who is coming off a tight split decision loss to TJ Dillashaw, will compete for interim gold against Yan on October 30. Despite the short-notice opportunity, the 29-year-old is confident he’ll be able to beat “No Mercy.”

Even with the relatively quick announcement, Sandhagen’s place in the matchup wasn’t without competition. Rob Font was apparently offered the chance to face Yan first. When he couldn’t accept the bout due to COVID-19, “The Sandman” was next in the queue and seemed the obvious choice.

Nevertheless, that didn’t stop surging bantamweight personality Sean O’Malley from taking advantage of the situation by throwing his name into the hat. Not only did “Sugar” call Yan out on social media, but he suggested he was training to face him and would “sleep the Russian in one.”

After his spot in the UFC 267 co-main event was secured, Sandhagen looked back on on O’Malley’s apparent willingness to jump the queue to a title shot. During an appearance on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, the Colorado native suggested the idea of the 26-year-old replacing Sterling was crazy.

“No, I think that that would’ve kinda been ridiculous for the real fans, right? Someone who hasn’t even fought in the top 10, for him to jump to a championship fight would’ve seemed a little ridiculous. I think that he’d probably agree with that, too.”

O’Malley has only met one ranked opponent inside the Octagon. He collided with Marlon “Chito” Vera at UFC 252. After a compromised leg saw him grounded and beaten via TKO inside the opening round, “Sugar” had the only blemish of his career to date added to his record.

Having returned to form with a brutal finish of Thomas Almeida in March and a record-breaking striking performance against promotional newcomer Kris Moutinho at UFC 264, O’Malley has brought his name back into the bantamweight conversation.

After turning down a matchup with former UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar at UFC 268 because of his coach Tim Welch’s prior commitments, O’Malley will now meet the #15-ranked Raulian Paiva at UFC 269 on December 11.

How would you have reacted if Sean O’Malley replaced Aljamain Sterling at UFC 267?

Continue Reading Sandhagen Thinks Even O’Malley Knows His Yan Callout Was Ridiculous at MMA News.

Sean O’Malley Insists He Asked The UFC To Book Dominick Cruz Fight

Sean O'Malley‘Suga’ Sean O’Malley has come out and claimed that Dominick Cruz turned down the potential fight that could have happened at UFC 269. The rumors between the two possibly meeting up were flying before both fighters took fights against different fighters on the same card. Dominick Cruz will be fighting against Pedro Munhoz, while O’Malley […]

Sean O'Malley

‘Suga’ Sean O’Malley has come out and claimed that Dominick Cruz turned down the potential fight that could have happened at UFC 269.

The rumors between the two possibly meeting up were flying before both fighters took fights against different fighters on the same card. Dominick Cruz will be fighting against Pedro Munhoz, while O’Malley will be fighting Raulian Paiva. There’s only one big difference between the two fights. O’Malley will be fighting on the main card while Cruz will be fighting on the prelims.

“I want to address the Dominick Cruz stuff first and I don’t want to be mean because he’s clearly slowing down,” O’Malley said (h/t Sportskeeda). “Not physically maybe, but mentally he said he doesn’t want that fight because he wants to fight someone higher up, so therefore he turned the fight down. I asked for that fight, we asked for that fight for a while. We asked Sean Shelby, he turned it down. I didn’t listen to the interview but it’s just a weird thing to say. He said something to where I’m like, ‘Dude, you need to learn from the daddy’ because I’m above you on the card.”

O’Malley makes a compelling case that Cruz may have lost out on a much bigger fight with ‘Suga’, but the risk may not have been worth it in ‘The Dominators’ eyes. O’Malley does have some of the best striking in the entire bantamweight division. O’Malley is coming off a record-breaking night against Khris Moutinho who filled in on a week’s notice. Cruz is also coming off a split decision win against Casey Kenney. It was Cruz’s first win since 2016.

Do you think we’ll ever see Sean O’Malley vs. Dominick Cruz?

Sean O’Malley Highlights Paddy Pimblett Double Standard

UFC bantamweight Sean O’Malley has highlighted a double standard surrounding the reaction to some recent comments made by Paddy Pimblett. After signing with MMA’s biggest promotion earlier this year, Pimblett made his much-anticipated debut in the UFC Vegas 36 main card opener last month. The charismatic Liverpudlian opened his UFC account against Luigi Vendramini. In […]

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UFC bantamweight Sean O’Malley has highlighted a double standard surrounding the reaction to some recent comments made by Paddy Pimblett.

After signing with MMA’s biggest promotion earlier this year, Pimblett made his much-anticipated debut in the UFC Vegas 36 main card opener last month. The charismatic Liverpudlian opened his UFC account against Luigi Vendramini.

In a surprising turn of events, the Brazilian burst out of the gates and actually rocked Pimblett on the feet. Despite initially looking close to securing one of the year’s biggest upsets, Vendramini soon lost control of the fight when “The Baddy” recovered and found his rhythm. In the end, the Englishman secured the first-round knockout he’d predicted pre-fight, and put the division on notice with a memorable Octagon interview.

After his successful debut, attention quickly turned to who Pimblett could face in his second UFC outing. While many have suggested a gradual rise up the UFC ranks and a clash with a name like Jared Gordon, who called “The Baddy” out following his own recent victory, others have pitched an immediate meeting with a ranked lightweight.

Commenting on the suggestion that he should be fast-tracked to the top 15 and be matched with a name like Tony Ferguson, Pimblett recently claimed he wouldn’t agree to fight a top-10 opponent without being offered a substantially more lucrative contract first.

In response, surging bantamweight star Sean O’Malley noted the different attitude members of the MMA community have had towards the Englishman’s comments compared to when he made very similar remarks. In August, “Sugar” also suggested he was content fighting unranked opponents until he begins earning more money per fight.

In a recent episode of his TimboSugarShow podcast, O’Malley questioned why people only agreed with the sentiment when it came from Pimblett, rather than from himself.

“Did you see Paddy said he’s not fighting anyone from the top 10 till he makes six figures. I’m like dude, that’s what I’ve been saying and I got so much fucking shit for that, saying like, I want to get paid more if I’m to fight the top, top dudes. Then Paddy says it and and people are like, ‘Fuck yeah that makes sense.’” (h/t Sportskeeda)

Do you think the likes of Sean O’Malley and Paddy Pimblett should wait for a better contract before fighting top opponents?

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Sean O’Malley Says Dominick Cruz Needs To Learn From ‘Daddy’

Sean O’Malley believes Dominick Cruz needs to learn from him about how to approach taking fights. After O’Malley’s UFC 264 TKO win over Kris Moutinho, he called out several fighters, including Cruz. The hope was the fight would come to fruition, but according to “Suga,” the former bantamweight champ turned him down and opted to […]

Continue Reading Sean O’Malley Says Dominick Cruz Needs To Learn From ‘Daddy’ at MMA News.

Sean O’Malley believes Dominick Cruz needs to learn from him about how to approach taking fights.

After O’Malley’s UFC 264 TKO win over Kris Moutinho, he called out several fighters, including Cruz. The hope was the fight would come to fruition, but according to “Suga,” the former bantamweight champ turned him down and opted to fight Pedro Munhoz instead due to the fact that he is higher ranked.

However, for O’Malley, he says Cruz needs to learn something from him because he is now on the pay-per-view at UFC 269 while Cruz is on the prelims.

“I want to address the Dominick Cruz stuff first and I don’t want to be mean because he’s clearly slowing down,” O’Malley said on his YouTube channel (via Sportskeeda). “Not physically maybe, but mentally… he said he doesn’t want that fight because he wants to fight someone higher up, so therefore he turned the fight down. I asked that fight, we asked for that fight for a while. We asked Sean Shelby, he turned it down… I didn’t listen to the interview but it’s just a weird thing to say. He said something to where I’m like, dude, you need to learn from daddy because I’m above you on the card.”

Sean O'Malley, Dominick Cruz
Sean O’Malley, Dominick Cruz (Image Credits: Mike Roach/Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)

At UFC 269, O’Malley will face Raulian Paiva, who is in the rankings. Paiva is a former flyweight who has moved up to bantamweight and coming off a win over Kyler Phillips, who is O’Malley’s teammate.

O’Malley is currently on a two-fight winning streak as prior to beating Moutinho, he knocked out Thomas Almeida. In the fight before, the fan-favorite suffered a first-round TKO loss to Marlon Vera in a fight he hurt his ankle in.

What do you make of Sean O’Malley’s advice to Dominick Cruz after the UFC 269 bout order was revealed?

Continue Reading Sean O’Malley Says Dominick Cruz Needs To Learn From ‘Daddy’ at MMA News.