Former UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley is aware of the losses he will incur now that he is not in possession of UFC gold anymore. ‘Suga’ lost his title to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306 this year and has not stopped talking about it ever since.
The worst part for him is, that he will have to wait for a few months before he can even think of returning to the octagon since he is currently recovering from hip surgery. But as he waits to make his return to the octagon, he has had to contemplate what life will be like now that he is not champion.
‘Suga’ held the belt for a year and defended his title once. In that time, his earnings from the UFC skyrocketed as he headlined events, which ensured a portion of the PPVs went into his bank account. Now, that he doesn’t have that privilege anymore, the account could run a bit dry by the standards he’s gotten accustomed to
In a recent Join The Lobby podcast episode on YouTube, he spoke about the same and said:
“Now that I’m not champ, I won’t make nearly as much money. Coz when you start making real money is when you’re the champ.”
And of course, as a loyal employee, he blamed it on the illegal streaming that is taking place.
Sean O’Malley does not think the organization is selling as many PPVs as it used to just because of how easily people are able to access the illegal streams. Now, that is debatable.
Despite O’Malley’s claim to stardom he is yet to break the mainstream barrier that former UFC champions like Conor McGregor, Ronda Rousey, to some extent, Daniel Cormier, and Brock Lesnar, thanks to his time with the WWE did.
Without a proper mainstream star in his roster, it is only natural that the PPV numbers would struggle. As far as getting paid is concerned, O’Malley could always look into the claims of unfair fight pay in the UFC, take notes about the percentage of profits the fighters get from the promotion, and compare it to the athletes’ share in other sports.
Alas, that’s unlikely to happen!
But O’Malley has been a bit out of touch with things, especially since losing his title to Dvalishvili at UFC 306, which, to this day, he claims he didn’t.
However, UFC featherweight champion, Ilia Topuria has recently responded to O’Malley claiming he won the fight against ‘The Machine’.
Topuria asks O’Malley to stop smoking and shut up
Ever since losing his belt to Merab Dvalishvili, Sean O’Malley has been very adamant that he won the fight on the scorecards, something that is verifiably untrue. ‘Suga’ got rag-dolled by Dvalishvili, hardly getting any strikes off of him for five straight rounds. It was utter domination by the Georgian, and a poor performance by the Montana native.
In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani for his show on YouTube, the UFC journalist asked Topuria what he thought of ‘Suga’s’ comments. Topuria, who has been more active each day in MMA media since his quickly approaching fight date had some advice for ‘Suga’. Champ to former champ, he said:
“I don’t know that guy smokes so much, that he lost his mind. I recommend him to watch the fight again and again….So bro, shut the f*ck up.”
Topuria does not understand how ‘Suga’ would think he had won after his performance. The former champ almost looked scared to throw his signature punches and combos inside the octagon.