Sean O’Malley Believes the Fans Want to See Him Get a UFC Title Shot
The UFC bantamweight division is often regarded as one of the top three most stacked in all of mixed martial arts. The contenders, the fighters on the fringe of being ranked, and the newcomers are highly skilled. Now that the division’s champion in Henry Cejudo has decided to retire, it leaves a perfect lane for someone to rise to the top. For “Suga” Sean O’Malley, he believes that he could earn a title shot and reach the status of a champion sooner than later.
The “Suga Show” began back in 2017. That’s when Sean splashed onto the scene as the most memorable fighter on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender series. Since that moment, O’Malley has never looked back and has continued to propel himself into superstardom.
Sean also faced issues with USADA which ruined his momentum. He failed a USADA drug test, for ostarine, before about in 2018. Since then, he finally received a retroactive suspension from USADA, despite some issues with trace picogram amounts reappearing.
O’Malley Speaks on Getting a UFC Title Shot
In his return, Sean TKO’d José Alberto Quiñónez at UFC 248. Now that he’s back to being able to compete, his eyes are locked on a UFC bantamweight championship. In O’Malley’s latest interview, he explained that the goal of being a champion isn’t so far away.
🔊@SugaSeanMMA discusses the current state at BW and explains why he's not far from a title shot despite a crowded contender scene in the weight class #TLTS👊@lthomasnews
⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️ pic.twitter.com/HjFp8jrHIy— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) May 26, 2020
“There’s four people they’re talking about for the bantamweight title, no one is really standing out, no one is really like ‘this is who we want to be our champ,’” O’Malley said. “I win a couple more fights, I’m that guy.”
He continued, “I’m the guy that people are going to want to see the bantamweight champ. I’m that guy. I’m only a couple (of) fights away from the title, if you look at the rankings, they don’t really matter…I think those top four dudes, Sterling, Yan, Cory [Sandhagen], Marlon [Moraes], those four dudes are killers, they’re high-level black belts in MMA but no one’s talking about them. No one is like ‘that’s the dude’, no one is that interesting,” finished O’Malley.
Capitalizing on Opportunities
How many fights away do fans believe O’Malley is from title contention? As he mentioned, the top 5 fighters in the division are some of the most elite fighters in all of the UFC. And, when Sean gets the chance to secure a title fight, will he capture it?