Sean O’Malley Says He Is Modelling His UFC Career On Conor McGregor

‘Suga’ Sean O’Malley has revealed he plans to model his UFC rise on Conor McGregor, who he feels got the perfect build-up in the promotion. 

The 25-year-old bantamweight is fresh off an impressive first-round TKO win at UFC 248 against Jose Quinonez. It was his first fight since 2018, as his hype-train was derailed by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and Nevada State Athletic Commission with a pair of suspensions that kept him out of fighting until just last month.

Even though he’s coming off a two-year lay off O’Malley is still confident he’s on the right path, and that fight fans are just as interested as they ever were in seeing him compete. 

“I don’t think I really lost any hype going into that fight,” O’Malley told MMA Fighting. “It was exciting. I think people feel that certain way when I fight, and I’m excited to get back in there and make them feel that again. It’s powerful.”

“I think the two fights I was supposed to be in brought that hype back a little bit,” O’Malley explained. “Then it got pulled, then it got built up again, then it got pulled. There was a lot of drama behind it all, so it almost made it more exciting for my return, but yeah, it felt like my debut all over again.

Now he’s free to fight again the 11-0 prospect plans to continue building his name, reputation, and record in a way similar to MMA superstar Conor McGregor.

“Conor [McGregor’s] career, they did pretty well with as far as building him up,” O’Malley said. “It’s a business. It’s a career. You can only fight for so long. You’ve got to make as much money as you possibly can. So we’re going to look at it like a business and go from there.”

Could Sean O’Malley follow in Conor McGregor’s footsteps and become the biggest star in MMA?