Sean O’Malley added one other piece of {hardware} to the gathering.
On Thursday night time, the 2024 ESPY Awards occurred — the annual ESPN awards present celebrating one of the best in sports activities over the earlier yr. Within the class for Greatest UFC Fighter, the UFC bantamweight champion gained the award, beating out mild heavyweight champ Alex Pereira, light-weight titleholder Islam Makhachev, and strawweight champion Zhang Weili.
Because the begin of 2023, O’Malley has competed twice. He gained the 135-pound world title with a second-round knockout victory over Aljamain Sterling in the primary occasion of UFC 292 in Boston this previous August after which returned to the octagon in March to headline a loaded UFC 299 occasion in Miami in opposition to rival Marlon Vera. O’Malley dominated “Chito” over 5 rounds of their rematch to earn his first profitable title protection.
As of now, O’Malley’s second title protection has not been introduced. The fast-rising star is predicted to face streaking contender Merab Dvalishvili.
O’Malley joins 2023 winner Jon Jones on the listing of fighters to seize the Greatest MMA Fighter ESPY award, in addition to Charles Oliveira, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and Daniel Cormier. Previous to 2019, MMA fighters competed alongside boxers for a Greatest Fighter ESPY award earlier than receiving their very own class.
Demetrious Johnson, Conor McGregor, and Ronda Rousey are earlier winners of the Greatest Fighter statuette.
