Sean O'Malley apparently is ready to save the UFC, but does the UFC really need saving? While there’s no question the UFC roster is stacked with talented fighters both established and on the rise, O’Malley believes the promotion is lacking in star power.
That’s where he comes in.
“UFC needs a superstar right now,” O’Malley said on “The BrOMalley Show” on his YouTube channel. “They got Jon Jones, but he’s getting older, and he’s not guaranteed to get to the fight (at UFC 285). I think he will. Just saying stuff happens. Even if he does fight, it’s like, when does he fight again?
“Paddy (Pimblett) was like, ‘Could he be?’ Then we see his last fight, now he’s getting surgery. He still has potential. He still could be a massive superstar. The only person I can think of is ‘The Sugar Show’ that has the potential to be that motherf*cker.”
To O’Malley’s point, the UFC has been without its biggest star and pay-per-view draw Conor McGregor – who’s under investigation following accusations of assaulting a woman on his yacht in Ibiza last summer – since his July 2021 loss to Dustin Poirier. The promotion also just lost “baddest man on the planet” Francis Ngannou, who was the reigning UFC heavyweight champion, after failing to sign him to a new contract.
Looking at the active roster, fighters such as Khamzat Chimaev and Paddy Pimblett certainly have potential to be big stars, but they’ve lost steam given what’s recently transpired in their careers – Chimaev’s massive UFC 279 weight miss and Pimblett’s Robbery of the Year win over Jared Gordon.
The same could be said for O’Malley (16-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC), one of the promotion’s most popular and polarizing fighters coming off a hotly debated split decision win over Petr Yan in his last fight at UFC 280.
While the UFC certainly could use a bonafide superstar, whether or not it “needs” one might be a stretch given that UFC president Dana White regularly touts the company’s financial success without one.
Still, O’Malley just wants it to be known that he believes he is that guy.
“I’m not saying I’m the best fighter,” O’Malley said. “I’m talking about who’s gonna bring the most eyeballs, who’s gonna give the people that feeling when they walk out? At the weigh-ins, during fight week, and they’re like, ‘Oh sh*t, this fight’s happening.’ It’s me.”
