Sean O’Malley is on a roll right now in his MMA career but it might not stop him from thinking of his future.
Sean O’Malley is on his way up in the bantamweight division. He might be next for the UFC title shot, but it’s not all about the title, he enjoys the training as well. O’Malley seems to be in the driver’s seat of his career and could have plenty of opportunities when all is said and done.
These days fans are seeing more and more fighters retiring from MMA and making a transition to boxing, but that may not be the case for O’Malley.
Sean O’Malley would choose grappling over boxing if his MMA career ended now
O’Malley is fresh off of his huge UFC 280 win over Petr Yan. The bout was anticipated to be a striking war and O’Malley came out on top. Despite his impressive striking skills O’Malley claims that his favorite part of training is the grappling. He spoke about this on his YouTube channel.
“I enjoy grappling dude, it’s my favorite sport hands down, 100 percent if I quit fighting today I would still grapple, still jiu-jitsu, still wrestle,” he said. “I probably wouldn’t box. I would grapple, grappling is something I enjoy so I’m excited.”
The return date and opponent for O’Malley is not yet determined but could be against the champion Aljamain Sterling. Sterling is known for his wrestling skills and if that fight is brought to O’Malley’s attention he would be happy to turn his preparation to grappling primarily. He also announced that he will be meeting with the UFC next week to discuss all options.
“I’m going to Vegas Wednesday to sit down with Sean Shelby, you know, see what’s next,” he said. “This camp was more kickboxing with I mean we still grappled obviously but like yeah if we fight Aljo we’re having the best wrestlers, the best grapplers, you know, in there trying to take my back, trying to take me down, trying to hold me down.”
Stealing has mentioned wanting to take some time off and is targeting a return in the summer. If that is the case, O’Malley has mentioned that he would be open to other options.
