Conor McGregor played a crucial role in the expansion of the UFC and earned huge fight purses. McGregor’s success financially has acted as a motivator to many fighters to imagine bigger payday for themselves as well. Most recently, bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley revealed his lofty financial goals inspired by the Irishman’s success on ESPN MMA.
In a recent interview, Megan Olivi asked Sean O’Malley if he had financial goals set for himself like ‘The Notorious’ used to. In response to the same he said,
“100%. Especially seeing like Conor do it, I believed in myself and wanted to do stuff like that before Conor kinda came on the scene and did it. But the fact that he did it, it allows me to even dream bigger. Oh he can make a $100 million, I want to make $200 million. I can dream bigger now because of what he has done. I foresee that in my future for sure.”
In the interview, Sean O’Malley further expanded on why he thinks this is possible. ‘Sugar’ stated that he plans on fighting twice in 2024. After knocking out Marlon Vera he plans on fighting once more. If he wins the second fight as well, he believes it will make him one of the biggest stars in the sport.
Further he elaborated that the UFC’s growth has been skyrocketing since the pandemic which means more eyeballs on him as compared to when Conor McGregor was coming up. All of the aforementioned factors make ‘Sugar’ believe that he can top Conor McGregor’s earnings. However, in order to get there, O’Malley has a huge test to pass at UFC 299.
Sean O’Malley to avenge his loss at UFC 299?
‘Sugar’ suffered the first loss of his MMA career at UFC 252 against Marlon Vera. ‘Chito’ threw a leg kick which rendered O’Malley’s leg completely numb and immobile. This impacted O’Malley’s performance and Vera stopped him at 4 minutes 40 seconds of the first round. Despite showing as a loss on his record, O’Malley does not believe he was actually beaten, and attributes Vera’s win to luck. He has been wanting a rematch ever since that fight ended.
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After defeating Aljamain Sterling in spectacular fashion at UFC 292, O’Malley wasted no time in calling out Vera for a fight. This time around, there is a lot more on the line for Sean O’Malley. If he gets the job done it will only further heighten his star power in the UFC.
