Sean O’Malley explains why he’s currently not interested in five-round fights
UFC bantamweight Sean O’Malley is quickly rising into stardom among all fighters in the promotion, but as he’s taking a patient approach in his career, he’s comfortable where he’s at in his career. Heading into his most recent fight at UFC 269 against Raulian Paiva, UFC President Dana White said that Sean O’Malley is not ready for the top contenders in the division, comparing his slow rise in the company compared to rising welterweight contender Khamzat Chimaev.
In that fight against Paiva, O’Malley secured a first-round knockout victory, the fourth knockout victory of his UFC tenure. Although he’s finding himself opening PPV cards, O’Malley wants to stay where he is, continuing to fight in three-round fights. Adding an extra 10 minutes to a fight for him, O’Malley was a guest on the Full Send podcast and explained he’s currently not interested in doing that.
“I don’t want a f***ing five-round fight. They’re gonna give me like, $20,000 extra to go fight basically another fight, 10 minutes. I’m llike ‘I’m not gonna f***ing do that'” (H/T MMA News)
With his previous win catapulting him into the bantamweight Top-15 rankings, it won’t be long until there are talks of Sean O’Malley in main event fights, as he continues to work towards becoming a champion one day. It’s only when those big fights, the championship fights, are drawing near, that “Suga” will be open to five-round fights.
“When I’m champ, yeah. There comes a point, you can’t say no to the UFC you know what I mean? I’d rather not fight five rounds unless you wanna pay me a f***ing lot more money. You know how much more training goes [into it]. That as like a 10-week camp [UFC 269] for 15 minutes. That’s a hard camp. I think, though, with the level of cardio I was in, I could have gone five rounds, just because when you’re in there, you’re not gonna give up, you’re not gonna fall, you’re gonna fight.
When it comes down to it, O’Malley would go on to make it clear, if there’s going to be a five-round fight in his future, there needs to be a bigger paycheck headed his way as well.
“But five rounds, that’s a lot. That’s 25 minutes of f***ing fist-fighting. I’d like to be paid, if I’m gonna do that, paid equally. That’s a long time to f***ing fight, dude.”
After his win at UFC 269, White said that it appeared it was time to pay Sean O’Malley after another impressive victory, so the bigger paychecks may be coming sooner than later. Whether or not that means potential five-round fights in the near future is unknown, but there is no shortage of potential opponents, as he’s recently been called out by Ricky Simon and Adrian Yanez after their respective recent wins.
