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The UFC bantamweight challenge is ready to fly to Ireland and spar McGregor, provided Mac follows through with his offer to provide a jet.

Sean O’Malley has accepted Conor McGregor’s offer for a spar, if “The Notorious” is serious about sending a jet to bring him to Ireland.

McGregor is back to training in preparation for his UFC 303 fight against Michael Chandler, his first bout in nearly three years after breaking his leg badly against Dustin Poirier back in July 2021. That hasn’t stopped him from challenging anyone who pops up in the news cycle, no matter how tangentially.

McGregor was a huge supporter of troubled boxer Ryan Garcia right up until “King Ryan” tested positive for ostarine following his win over Devin Haney. Now Mac wants to punch up Garcia … or O’Malley, who also failed a drug test for ostarine in 2019.

“Don’t come near me if I see you ever Ryan Garcia. I am actually disgusted,” McGregor wrote in a since-deleted tweet. “This ostarine it reminds me of Sean O’Malley was on that as well. I don’t like this, I’ll bust yous both up, do yous want a spar. I will set flights right now for you both for a full on spar each. Hotel, Black Forge Inn, the lot. #letssparomalley and #garcia two little ostarine heads l’ll ride you both like yous are ostriches.”

The challenge caught O’Malley’s interest.

“Send Jet for a quick spar,” O’Malley declared on X (formerly Twitter).

We doubt anything will actually come of this. McGregor just has ostriches on the brain as he continues to spend his evenings at his Black Forge Inn promoting his Forged Irish Stout. While his upcoming bout against Michael Chandler will undoubtedly earn him millions of dollars from the UFC, the booze business is where he’s pulling nine-figure paydays.

His non-stop marketing of Proper 12 whiskey earned him a reported $500 million when he sold chunks of the product to Proximo Spirits in 2019 and 2021. Now he’s trying to recreate that Midas touch magic with his stout, and it’s hard to find pictures of the Irish sports star outside the gym where he doesn’t have a pint in his hand.

How all that ‘delicious’ will affect his fighting abilities in the cage when he returns at UFC 303 on June 29th remains to be seen. But McGregor remains a master of pulling the world’s attention, if not always for the right reasons.

Following his second title defense at UFC 301 last night, “Cannibal” declared nothing is going to stop him in the cage short of a bullet.

Alexandre Pantoja returned to his hometown of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, last night (Sat., May 4, 2024), defending his Flyweight title against Steve Erceg in the pay-per-view (PPV) main event of UFC 301.

Considering the Australian was seeded No. 10 in the 125-pound rankings, Erceg gave “The Cannibal” a surprisingly competitive fight that was decided in the final minute of the final round on two judges’ scorecards.

When the chips were down, Erceg shot for a takedown late in the fifth round, which Pantoja reversed. The Brazilian fighter ended the bout on top and took the win 48-47, 48-47 and 49-46.

“Not to belittle Erceg — everyone saw what a tough fighter he is — but I thought I could really finish this fight in the first round,” Pantoja said at UFC 301’s post-fight press conference. “I was hurting him with my strikes, but when a guy comes to fight for the UFC belt, he comes to kill or to die … especially in the Flyweight division. They are all very talented fighters.

“Erceg is a very good fighter, I’m sure he will make a lot of noise in this division,” Pantoja concluded.

Admittedly, Pantoja fought a reckless fight and paid for it in blood, getting cut wide open by an Erceg elbow.

“I think that only when someone is allowed to bring a gun into the Octagon will someone kill me there,” he said of the wound. “As long as I’m standing and have energy, I could get cut, hurt, but I’ll keep fighting, especially because I wanted to represent in Brazil. I couldn’t leave here without this victory.

“I think few champion fighters have managed to defend their title at home,” Pantoja later added about the chance to headline in Rio. “I’m from Copacabana, I grew up in Arraial do Cabo and I saw everyone in the arena today and it made a total difference for me. I owe 50 percent of my victory to the fans who were present in the arena, who shouted with me, who cheered with me. I dedicate this victory to everyone who was here today.”

It’s been a busy 12 months for Pantoja, who won the Flyweight title in July 2023 and has already defended it twice. His current plan is to sit back and take a rest with the hopes that a big name will become available to fight.

He shared two ideas: Sean O’Malley and Demetrious Johnson.

“I have a very good division to defend,” he said. “I would only go up if I had to fight O’Malley. If it’s another champion in the top category, I don’t care. I just want to go up against O’Malley. He’s a guy who talked nonsense about me. I already hit him once and I can hit him again.

“If Demetrious Johnson is listening and wants to come back and try something, that would be an honor for me,” he added. “I think the only dream I have is to fight a guy like that. For me, he is one of the biggest names to ever be in UFC.”

As cool as that fight would be, “Mighty Mouse” is currently signed to ONE Championship, although he hasn’t competed in the organization (where he is the Flyweight champion) for a year now. If Pantoja wants to face the Flyweight G.O.A.T., he may have to do it via a Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournament.

As for Sean O’Malley, he’s expected to fight Merab Dvalishvili sometime toward the end of 2024 (details here). So, Pantoja will most likely have to wait and see who emerges from the current UFC Flyweight roster as a dominant challenger for his next title defense.

Let’s start here?

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For complete UFC 301 results, coverage and highlights click HERE.