Sean O’Malley reveals the UFC fight that inspired his journey into MMA

By Susan Cox - September 2, 2022

Sean O’Malley has revealed the UFC fight that inspired his journey into MMA.

UFC, Sean O'Malley

It was almost a decade ago that O’Malley entered the UFC as a bantamweight contender.

O’Malley, 27, has enjoyed a record of 15 wins and 1 loss inside the Octagon, seven by knockout. ‘Sugar’ has quite the reputation inside as well as outside of the cage.

It was just last year that Sean O’Malley received 3 ‘performance of the night’ bonuses with wins against, Raulian Paiva, Kris Moutinho and Thomas Almeida.

O’Malley also co-hosts the podcast ‘The Timbo Sugar Show’ and is known for his colorful tattoos, every-changing hairstyles and love of marijuana.

On a recent episode of the ‘TimboSugarShow’ podcast, O’Malley was asked by guest Ariel Helwani what drove him into the mixed martial arts arena. Sean O’Malley responded (h/t MMANews):

“Conor versus Max (Holloway). Yeah, I think that’s kinda the first fight. When I moved down to Arizona, we were staying at Tim’s (Welch) girlfriend’s house. And I remember his (McGregor) style. I was like, ‘What the f*ck, that’s different.’ He looked like a karate — f*cking, just moving around weird. That’s funny that you ask me that and that’s the memory that came up. Conor versus Max was kinda like, when I started.”

The McGregor (22-6 MMA) vs Holloway (23-7 MMA) fight took place in August of 2013. It was to be the Irishman who won that bout via unanimous decision.

It was just last month that Holloway spoke with ‘TMZ Sports’ saying he would like to avenge his 2013 loss to McGregor:

“It’d be a great, big fight for everyone.”

Adding he’d like the fight to take place in his native Hawaii:

“I mean, we got a stadium. Why not do it?”

As for Sean O’Malley, he’s preparing for his upcoming battle with Petr Yan (16-3 MMA) on October 22nd at UFC 280 which takes place at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Are your surprised that it was the McGregor vs Holloway fight that got O’Malley interested in MMA? Any thoughts on if ‘Sugar Sean’ will be able to defeat Yan this coming October?

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