Outside Source
Sean O’Malley believes the best is yet to come for him in the UFC. | Getty/UFC
Sean O’Malley always wanted to be the biggest superstar on the UFC roster.
O’Malley came to the UFC as an undefeated knockout artist and showed stardom potential from the beginning of his career. O’Malley lived up to the expectations by racking up more knockouts while suffering an injury loss against Marlon Vera, which “Suga” refuses to accept as a loss to this day. O’Malley’s stardom likely peaked when he knocked out Aljamain Sterling to win the bantamweight title in 2023. “Suga” also avenged his loss against Marlon Vera in his first title defense.
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While O’Malley has always been a star, he was overshadowed by Conor McGregor’s stardom in his early career. By the time McGregor became inactive, stars like Alex Pereira and Islam Makhachev had surfaced, while Jon Jones perpetually lurked in the background. O’Malley gradually lost some stardom after losing his title to Merab Dvalishvili in 2024 and failing to regain it in the rematch last year.
‘The Suga Show Hasn’t Peaked
O’Malley (18-3) admits that while he has been among the UFC’s biggest stars, he was never at the top. O’Malley is now scheduled to fight Yadong Song in the co-main event at UFC 324 on Saturday in Las Vegas. O’Malley still believes he can become the UFC’s biggest superstar and looks to start the journey by beating Song (22-8).
“The Suga Show hasn’t peaked yet,” O’Malley told the UFC. “I wanted to be the biggest UFC superstar at one point, and I never really was that. I was up there, Top 2, Top 3; I never was the No. 1. I still feel like I have that potential. I go out there and beat Song and I still see the path for me to become the ‘Suga’ that I wanted to become before it was all said and done. I’m still hungry in that sense.”
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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