Sean O’Malley had some pearls of wisdom for the massively hyped new UFC signee Bo Nickal.
Nickal made his first appearance under the UFC banner at this year’s Dana White’s Contender Series, where he made a quick turnaround to compete twice in under two months. He finished both Donovan Beard and Zachary Borrego in about a minute of the opening round to earn his contract from the company president Dana White.
After signing with the promotion, Nickal made it clear that he would not fight on the preliminary card stating that he would instead choose to hang up his gloves. He did later come out to walk back his comments given how early he is in his career.
Sean O’Malley advised Bo Nickal to ‘trust the ride’
In a recent episode of the Bromalley show, Sean O’Malley shared his advice for Nickal after coming across his statements. He was understanding of where Nickal came from and suggested he trust the process as the UFC will do the right thing for him.
“I get it. I feel like he has the potential to be a superstar. They’re going to build him up. He’s fighting a guy who’s 13-8, 2-4 in the UFC coming off a two-fight losing streak. He’s going to be built up good, you know what I mean? They’re going to put him on where he needs. The UFC is going to put you where you need to be. They’ve done it with me, they obviously knew I was going to be a superstar, and look at me now. I would say he’s got a lot of confidence, he’s young, stud, I’d say just trust the ride, trust the UFC.
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O’Malley doesn’t think Nickal’s statement was that bad
Nickal ruffled some feathers after expressing his desire to only be on the main card for an event. While he did get heat from the doubters, ‘Suga’ Sean is not one of them and believes it wasn’t an outrageous thing for him to say.
“I mean it’s not even that bad of a statement. He probably won’t fight on some sh*t card. They’re going to put him in a spot where a lot of people are going to see him. Wherever they put him is going to be for his benefit. He could be opening up the main or he could be the end of the prelims.”
O’Malley is set to mark his return to action against former UFC interim bantamweight champion Petr Yan at UFC 281 on Oct. 22 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It will be his toughest challenge to date, with a win likely earning him a title shot next.