Sean O’Malley might not be the most active fighter on the UFC roster, but ‘Suga’ has every intention of building a brand for himself and cementing his status as one of, if not the, biggest stars in the promotion.
Yes, even bigger than Conor McGregor.
O’Malley has to get past ‘Prelim Pedro’ Munhoz first but, after that, the 27-year-old anticipates some legacy-defining fights and ‘crazy moments’ in his future.
“There’s no one doing it the way I want to do it,” O’Malley told Ariel Helwani during a recent appearance on The MMA Hour (h/t MMA Fighting). “There’s no one doing it the way I’m capable of doing it. I just have to go out there and win these fights and make my own lane, the same way Conor did. I think Izzy is doing a really good job, he’s a super active champ. Kamaru is doing a really good job too… Obviously I want to be bigger than both those guys, as they want to be bigger than me and Conor and whoever. But I think I’m going to do just my own thing, my own path, and ideally, in my mind, it all starts with a dream.”
“I think me wanting to be bigger than Conor can sound silly right now, but if I go out there and knock out Pedro, knock out ‘Chito’ [Vera], whoever’s champ, beat [them] down, [then] I’m the champ [and] I’m very close to that,” continued. “Conor’s had the crazy moments with Jose Aldo and the Chad Mendes [win] and all those fights, the Nate [Diaz] fights. He’s had some sweet fights. I still have to go out there and have those sweet fights and those sweet moments to be that big, and I’m totally capable of that. I’m 27 years old. I’m a f*cking animal right now and I’m excited to go out there and prove that against ‘Prelim Pedro.’”
O’Malley (15-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) will return to the Octagon to take on Brazil’s Pedro Munhoz (19-7-1 NC MMA, 9-7-1 NC UFC) at the upcoming UFC 276 pay-per-view on July 2 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.