Sean O’Malley has made it very public that he’s always looked up to Conor McGregor. In fact, some would say that he’s shaped his entire personality to mimic the Irishman, and it has definitely paid off, since he is a star in his own right now.
‘Suga’ even plans to follow in McGregor’s footsteps and step into the boxing ring with a pro, like Gervonta Davis. But for now, all his focus is on winning his belt back from Merab Dvalishvili.
Last year at UFC 306, the Georgian completely outclassed an ‘injured’ Sean O’Malley to dethrone him. ‘Suga’ is now out for vengeance and has been extremely dedicated to this training camp.
Ahead of his fight, the former champ was caught watching Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz 2 for inspiration.
The Irishman was in a similar situation to O’Malley, he lost a fight to Nate Diaz the first time they faced each other. But in the rematch, he came back strong, stuck to his game plan, and pushed the Stockton native to the brink and won the fight via majority decision.
Sean O’Malley watching Conor McGregor vs Nate Diaz 2 ahead of his rematch against Merab
@SugaSeanMMA #UFC316 pic.twitter.com/LwPyHaguS6
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) June 3, 2025
That’s exactly what ‘Suga’ plans on doing when he steps into the octagon against the champion this weekend. He’s ready to prove to everyone that he still has what it takes to wear the crown at 135 lbs.
O’Malley couldn’t stop singing the Irishman’s praises even when he was training with Israel Adesanya recently.
O’Malley tells Adesanya why he respects Conor
‘Suga‘ has been collaborating with UFC legends ahead of his rematch against Dvalishvili. He even joined a training session with the likes of legendary champions like Israel Adesanya and Demetrious Johnson in preparation for the fight.
After their training session, both ‘Izzy’ and ‘Suga’ sat down to film a podcast episode on YouTube where they spoke about everything from Adesanya’s iconic walkouts to O’Malley’s persistent injury.
Adesanya’s brother then brought up the topic of McGregor, referencing a post he saw on social media.
This made O’Malley go off about how the Irishman has inspired him, “I’ve taken so much f*cking inspiration from Conor, I’ve taken so much from Conor,” he revealed.
And Adesanya couldn’t help but agree with what O’Malley had to say, because Conor was an inspiration for him as well.
“Watching his career play out and just like the confidence he had to say what he was going to go out there and do, and go out there and do it”, he added.
O’Malley even went on to say that he wants to see ‘The Notorious’ come back to the octagon and knock somebody out again, more than anything.
Interestingly, last year, after boxer Ryan Garcia had tested positive for Ostarine, McGregor had dragged O’Malley while chiding him online for doping.
“Cheated the weight and was juiced, lifetime ban. Sad to see, sad to say… This ostarine it reminds me of Sean o malley was on that as well… I’ll bust yous both up, do you want a spare? I will set flights right now for you both… Two little ostraine heads, I’ll ride you both like yous are ostriches,” he said in a now-deleted tweet.
In response, O’Malley claimed that despite being a fanboy, he would be happy to show the controversial Irishman what he was all about.
