With ‘Suga’ Sean O’Malley set to defend his UFC bantamweight title this weekend at The Sphere in Las Vegas, let’s take a little trip down memory lane to his first-ever amateur MMA fight.
Sean O’Malley has been an avid streamer for several years and back in 2019, the then-UFC newcomer was able to react to footage of the first time he ever stepped into an MMA cage; a bout he unsurprisingly won via a vicious knockout.
Sean O’Malley reacts to his first-ever MMA fight at 18 years old
It’s crazy to think that Sean O’Malley’s iconic appearance on Dana White’s Contender Series took place a whopping seven years ago – yet ‘Suga’ was already 7-0 as a pro with a solid amateur pedigree by the time he showed out in front of Snoop Dogg and co.
In fact, the story of O’Malley’s success as an MMA fighter goes all the way back to 2013 when he was fighting in his hometown of Helena, Montana in front of basically a small warehouse full of locals – all these years later, he’s about to headline UFC 306 at The Sphere in Las Vegas.
Luckily, not only do we have footage of Sean O’Malley’s first-ever MMA fight as an amateur, but also running commentary from the main man himself; having reacted to the video of his inaugural knockout on his YouTube channel some four years ago.
“This is my first MMA fight ever, I remember I walked out to the song ‘Go to Sleep’ by Eminem, it was a little intense – I remember I took a nap at my friend’s house, and I was like ‘Damn, this is weird, I’m fighting tonight like an MMA fight’. I had kickboxed and boxed but this was different.”
O’Malley, who would have been just 18 years old at the time of his amateur debut, noted how he was remarkably nervous about the idea of fighting in MMA – especially after seeing opponent Stein Anderson a few hours before the opening bell.
“At the fighter meeting the morning, I’d seen this guy, and I was like ‘Damn, this mother**** is jacked’, he was like 30-something and way bigger than me – so I was kind of nervous.”
Yet even as a spry and vastly inexperienced teenager, O’Malley was already making ‘Mystic Mac’ style predictions for how he was going to win fights as he scored two quick knockdowns (one being a spinning backfist) in the opening round.
“I told my friends, my training partners and dad that I was going to circle him, full 360 and then I’m going to throw a spinning backfist – literally, that was my plan going into this fight… Circle this mother***** and then boom!
“First f***** punch I threw in an MMA fight, literally knew zero wrestling or jiu-jitsu… Boom, head kick – dropped his ass again but I just didn’t have any sting on the [follow-up] punches and now I’m like ‘F*** I’m tired, if I lose now at least I’ve already done two sweet things’.”
Yet it wasn’t all going to plan, with O’Malley explaining how he had no clue what he was doing when it came to the wrestling and jiu-jitsu side of the sport in which he’d eventually become a household name.
“God, I knew zero on the ground, it’s crazy to think ‘Yeah I’ll do an MMA fight’, I didn’t know s***, didn’t know how to get up – I remember seeing people at the gym doing jiu-jitsu and I’m like ‘Meh, s*** is kind of ***, I don’t know about that.’”
Since then, O’Malley has achieved Brown Belt status in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and competed in various grappling tournaments with outstanding success – including a first-round submission of the legendary Takanori Gomi back in 2019.
Yet even as the crowd of a few hundred people watched O’Malley win his amateur debut in brutal fashion, we doubt that any of them genuinely expected the flashy striker to become the global superstar he is today.
“This was in my hometown too in Helena, Montana with a decent little crowd; little did they know that little Suga was going to be a f***** superstar.”
Despite acknowledging that there was a whole lot of pressure on his young shoulders, having promised his mother that he’d find a ‘normal’ job if he’d lost to Anderson, O’Malley looks back on his early career with fondness: “Good memories, good f***** memories.”
O’Malley headlines UFC 306 at The Sphere in Las Vegas on September 14 when he takes on Merab Dvalishvili for the bantamweight title.