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Surging bantamweight superstar, ‘Sugar’ Sean O’Malley, is gearing up for a title fight against the champion, Aljamain Sterling, at UFC 292 tonight in Boston, Massachusetts. The title shot is coming off of the heels of an epic war he won against former champ Petr Yan, and six-years after securing his UFC contract on Dana White’s Contender Series. Before heading into battle in Beantown, Sean O’Malley caught up Bloody Elbow for a conversation, facilitated by Sugar’s watch partner Timex, to cover a whole array of topics.
Sean O’Malley interview video
Sean O’Malley’s expectations for gold
- Once you decided that you were going to be a world champion, and you committed to that, did it take you longer or shorter to get to a title shot?
“I can’t really pin down when I was like I want to be world champion. I definitely wanted to be, I just wanted to be in the UFC and make big fights, before I was like alright, let’s be world champ. So, I don’t really know, I can’t really pin down an exact time where I was like, alright, I want to be world champ. I just kind of figured it would happen. Yeah, I don’t know. Good question.”
Is Dana White’s Contenders Series the way?
- You came through the contender series, which is getting more and more popular now. Would advise other fighters to take that route, or do you think there might be better ways to go about getting into the UFC?
“Yeah, I think the contender series is 100% the best way in. You know, it’s a legitimate fight. It’s not like an exhibition on the on The Ultimate Fighter that’s two rounds. It’s a three round fight, you know. Dana, Sean, Mick, Hunter. You know the bosses are watching. It’s got the UFC platform behind it, so it’s 100% the best way to get into the UFC.”
Perception of Sugar after Petr Yan
- Your last match was an instant classic. You took a gritty decision over Petr Yan in absolute epic fight. After that…
The full interview, which tackles a lot more topics, can be read over at our Substack page.