UFC 292: With money on his mind, Sean O’Malley still following Conor McGregor’s blueprint
When Sean O’Malley makes the walk to the Octagon at TD Garden in Boston on Saturday to challenge Aljamain Sterling for the bantamweight title in the main event of UFC 292, there will be one overriding subtext: Money.
O’Malley entered the UFC in dramatic fashion on Sept. 12, 2017, in Las Vegas, when he knocked out Alfred Khashakyan in a bout on Week 2 of Season 1 of "Dana White’s Contender Series." As doctors huddled around the fallen Khashakyan, O’Malley climbed the cage and said into the camera, “Welcome to the Suga Show.”
He later said he’d become as big as Conor McGregor, the biggest draw in MMA history. McGregor had eight pay-per-views sell 1.2 million or more in the UFC and did a boxing match with Floyd Mayweather that sold 4.3 million.
O’Malley’s not nearly at that level yet. Heck, nine fights into his UFC career, Saturday’s bout will mark his first pay-per-view main event.
But as a reed-thin 22-year-old basking in the afterglow of an impressive win in his biggest fight to date, O’Malley was prescient when discussing his fight. He told Yahoo Sports that the one goal that meant more than anything else never left his mind over the next six years.
He’s looking to parlay his fighting skills into generational wealth, earned inside and outside the ring. He won’t, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea for him to walk to the cage to "For the Love of Money" by The O'Jays, particularly the stanza that goes, “Money, money, money, money!”
Earning McGregor-type money can bring along deadbeats trying to get what he has, and it may add pressure, but O’Malley seems immune to it.
“I mean, I kind of put that so-called pressure on myself and I’ve been saying it since 'The Contender Series': I will be as big as Conor McGregor,” O’Malley told Yahoo Sports. “I’d been saying that before I was even in the UFC and now, here we are, six years later and I’m where I said I would be. I got a lot of hate when I was in 'The Contender Series' and when I was first in the UFC for saying, ‘Hey, I’m going to be a pay-per-view star. I’m going to fight for the title. I’m going to be world champion.' I got a lot of hate, as confident people often do.”
O’Malley is a bright guy who did an honest self-assessment several years ago. And he realized then that if he wanted to reach his financial goals, he’d have to leverage the power of his fists.
So he set out to get rich as a fighter which many try and which most fail to achieve.
O’Malley’s already rich and has what he called “a pretty nice contract.” He feels vindicated even in his choice of occupation.
“Most people don’t go into fighting with the idea of getting rich,” O’Malley said. “I did. I got into fighting as a business move. I’ve always wanted to be rich and I didn’t see a path very many other ways and I was naturally good at fighting. So I said, ‘This is it.’ A lot of people don’t look at fighting and say, ‘Oh, I’m going to make $100 million and I’m going to be super rich.' I’ve always looked at it like that.”
Now, he admits that he’s not where he wants to be yet in terms of that generational wealth. He needs to win this fight, and doing it in jaw-dropping fashion the way McGregor did when he KO’d Jose Aldo in 13 seconds to win the full featherweight title, would help immensely.
How O'Malley thinks he can beat Sterling
As great a striker as O’Malley is, and he’s one of the handful of the best in the sport, nearly every striker who has come into MMA has, sooner or later, had to answer the question: What happens the first time you meet that big, strong, burly wrestler?
O’Malley’s moment of reckoning is about to arrive. He has reeled up a lifetime of highlights with his striking. But Saturday he will face that big, strong, burly wrestler when he stands across the cage from Sterling.
Sterling hit four takedowns against Henry Cejudo, an Olympic gold medal-winning wrestler and one of the greats in MMA history, in pulling out a split decision to retain his title at UFC 288.
O’Malley has never faced anyone quite like Sterling, who is beginning to gain recognition as perhaps the best bantamweight in UFC history.
O’Malley is a massive star six years into his UFC run, and is going to get only bigger. He’ll receive a hero’s welcome when he makes the walk to the Octagon around midnight local time Saturday, and the place will erupt if he pulls out a victory.
"Suga" is cut differently than most. He has never been intimidated by the crowd or by the moment and even though this fight could define his career, he insists he’s going to be relaxed.
“I understand what I have to do and that’s go out there and beat Aljamain Sterling,” O’Malley said. “The way I do that, the way I perform best, is to be calm. I really don’t think I have an issue staying calm. I know I’ll stay calm after I crack him, because I will crack him. I will hurt him.
“I can’t overcommit and get my hips too far in to where he can grab me. The biggest thing for me is that once I crack him, I have to stay calm.
"As far as walking out, I won’t let that change me. It’s going to be electric. It’s going to be insane. But I’ll be calm and ready to do my job.”
If he does his job and finishes Sterling to become the champion, maybe then would be the time to blare "For the Love of Money" over the arena’s speakers: Money, money, money, money!
