Chael Sonnen knows who the biggest star in mixed martial arts is, and it’s not Conor McGregor.
Even before ‘Sugar’ Sean O’Malley scored a second-round TKO against Aljamain Sterling last year to win his first UFC title, ‘The American Gangster’ pegged him as a “star on the rise.” Now, Sonnen is doubling down on his past comments by claiming that there has been a clear passing of the torch whether McGregor likes it or not.
“O’Malley is the biggest star in our sport right now,” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. “And ‘Red Panty Night’ is still real. Conor’s not in the sport, he’s not even licensed. Conor could not walk in and fight tonight if he wanted to. I’m just sharing with you, who’s in the sport, it’s one of those things.
“Conor has no more of a claim to this sport right now than [Georges] St-Pierre or Khabib [Nurmagomedov]. In fact, St-Pierre and Khabib have attended more UFCs in the last year than Conor.”
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Considering McGregor is responsible for eight of the 10 highest-grossing pay-per-views in promotional history, there is no denying that the Irishman is one of the biggest names in MMA history. With that said, it’s been more than three years since McGregor stepped foot inside the Octagon. ‘Mystic Mac’ was scheduled to return at UFC 303 in June, but a broken pinky toe forced him to bow out of the bout. A new date has not yet been announced.
Sonnen also addressed some concerns over the scrutiny that O’Malley has had to face since becoming a UFC champion.
That on top of a plethora of media responsibilities and being listed as an underdog going into his bantamweight title clash with Merab Dvalishvili has Sonnen worried that it could all be too much for the 29-year-old titleholder to handle come fight night at Sphere in Las Vegas.
“I say that because when you’re O’Malley and you’re out there working double- and triple-time, you’re making sure that you’re in the main event because of things you’re doing outside the octagon,” Sonnen said. “And whoever gets put in that passenger seat with you, regardless of what they’ve done, that’s not why they’re there. They’re there because you’re there. They’re in the main event because you drove to the front of the line and there’s an irritation, and I can’t call it a resentment, but there is an irritation when that person is not upholding their end of the deal, which is every interview I do, you do. I do five interviews at 6 a.m., you do five interviews at 6 a.m.
“It doesn’t work that way, that’s not how this goes, I’m just sharing for you as you start to get irritable, as the stress starts coming in, as the fight starts getting closer, as you start getting those pounds off, and this starts to get more real, and you start to realize the risk that you have and the distractions that came along because of the pressure and the expectations put on you.
“Oh, by the way, you’re not even favored to win this match. That guy is. ‘That guy is favored to win this match and that guy appears to be a little bit more buckled down and focused because he’s not having some of these other distractions and he’s not having them because he’s not good at doing them, I am, and they’re asking me first, and I keep on saying yes.’ And it’s one of these things that can bother you.”
Chael Sonnen Thinks Sean O’Malley Does His Best Work When The Odds Are Against Him
As we get closer to Noche UFC on September 14, the odds are beginning to narrow with some sportsbooks listing the fight as a pick’em.
Sonnen can’t help but be surprised by that considering his lights-out performance against Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera in March. Even if ‘Sugar’ gets past the wrestle-heavy attack of Dvalishvili, he’ll likely have another tough test waiting for him in the form of Umar Nurmagomedov. Considering the challenges that lie ahead, Sonnen wonders if O’Malley’s reign is destined to be a short one.
Of course, you can’t ignore the fact that the Helena, Montana native has continued to defy the odds and disarm his detractors.
“I feel that O’Malley, as the biggest star, who’s the hardest-working guy outside of the cage that division has ever seen, top 5 in the sport’s history—he might be No. 1—he is a top 5 in history of the hardest working guys outside of the cage,” Sonnen said. “For him to have landed this rocket ship in this position and whoever gets in the passenger seat and now you’re telling me [the oddsmakers] believe that he’s two-and-a-half times more likely to lose than he is to win and even if he wins he draws into a guy with a similar disastrous style?
“That is a lot for a young man to take on, but that seems to be exactly where O’Malley does his best work. That seems to be, when that house is on fire, and he’s right on the edge and people aren’t believing him and he’s got to stay sharp and if he’s not sharp he’s going to fall into a bed of needles, that seems to be where Sean O’Malley performs his finest.”
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