UFC bantamweight champ, Sean O’Malley clarified his wish to step inside the boxing ring right after claiming the title at UFC 292. ‘Sugar’ initially elected the famed Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis as his preferred rival back then. But subsequent incidents made him choose Ryan Garcia, over ‘Tank’ Davis. O’Malley recently appeared in an episode of ‘TimboSugarShow’ on his YouTube channel, revealing what Dana White and Co. thought about his decision.
Reflecting on the same, the 29-year-old disclosed that the UFC authorities had no problem with him deciding to try out boxing. But only if it ensures a major financial gain for them.
UFC icon Conor McGregor set the tone for such transitions in 2017. His bout against the famed boxing icon, Floyd Mayweather, sold an insane 4.3 million PPVs, making it the highest-viewed combat sports event in history.
Thus, it’s quite apparent that the UFC authorities wouldn’t mind if ‘Sugar’s’ venture into the boxing ring earns them a similar amount of money. O’Malley’s words clarified their condition further to promote his boxing match. He said,
“They [The UFC] told me, ‘You can do a boxing fight 100%, only if it makes us enough money’. So the option’s there.”
O’Malley’s superb striking has earned him much appreciation from several noted UFC personas. He put on an incredible show of his striking skills at the UFC 299 main event against Marlon Vera.
Hence, there’s every reason to believe that he can prove his might inside a boxing ring as well. However, his preferred rival, Ryan Garcia, thinks otherwise.
Ryan Garcia provided Sean O’Malley with a daunting warning related to his wish
The boxing world knows ‘KingRy’s’ affinity towards social media. He keeps uploading various posts to his social media account almost daily. This is why it didn’t take much time for Garcia to get notified about O’malley’s words in his YouTube show.
The 25-year-old also came up with a warning for ‘Sugar’ to be careful what he wished for. To be more specific, Garcia implied that he would make the 29-year-old UFC champ “bleed” inside the ring. Garcia’s ‘X’ update read,
“RAINBOW CACA BRAIN WANTS TO BOX, BE PREPARED TO BLEED RAINBOW”
RAINBOW CACA BRAIN
WANTS TO BOX
BE PREPARED TO BLEED RAINBOW pic.twitter.com/GGrvV7ZSCH
— RYAN GARCIA (@RyanGarcia) April 22, 2024
Both O’Malley and Garcia are massively followed stars in the combat sports world. A clash between the two has the potential to garner a massive number of eyeballs. Well, the hype might not match the coveted McGregor vs. Mayweather encounter. But they can certainly earn a green signal from the UFC regarding the materialization of of the said fight.
