Sean O’Malley doesn’t like Conor McGregor all that a lot today, however he utterly understands that the previous two-division UFC champ is the largest star within the historical past of the game.
O’Malley addressed McGregor as he continues on the point of defend his bantamweight title in the primary occasion of UFC 306 on Sept. 14 at Sphere in Las Vegas in opposition to No. 1 contender Merab Dvalishvili.
In an interview with ESPN, O’Malley, who knocked out Dvalishvili’s teammate Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292 in August 2023 to win the title, was requested how shut he’s to changing into the face of the UFC. The flamboyant bantamweight says it’s onerous to gauge with a pay-per-view mannequin affected by unlawful streaming, however for him, he sees a path to getting there if the roadmap he’s drawn out in his head truly occurs.
“Proper now it’s Conor McGregor, one hundred pc,” O’Malley stated. “He’s a dork, but it surely’s the reality. For me to get to that, I must go on the market and knock out Merab, I’m going as much as [145 pounds], I beat Ilia [Topuria], I beat Max [Holloway], I beat Umar [Nurmagomedov], I’m three fights away from being one of many best of all-time, some of the thrilling of all-time. There’s [a] distinction.
“Nobody thinks Conor’s the best fighter of all-time. He was missing expertise, lacked title defenses, however leisure clever, he’s the most effective on this planet. Leisure clever, he was the most effective.”
O’Malley efficiently defended his title with a stellar efficiency in a lopsided resolution win in opposition to longtime rival Marlon Vera to get revenge on the one man to defeat him in an MMA battle. That 25-minute outing opened a variety of eyes to the, maybe, underrated ceiling the MMA neighborhood positioned on him all through his construct to the title.
Whereas being the UFC’s greatest star is an accomplishment — albeit a profitable one — O’Malley says he’s striving for extra: The mix of superstardom, and historic greatness.
“Biggest fighter of all-time, Jon Jones, Khabib [Nurmagomedov], Islam [Makhachev], [all] up there,” O’Malley defined. “I need to be each. I need to be one of many best of all-times, and some of the entertaining of all-times. That’s my aim.”
