Sean O’Malley is dialed in for his upcoming title fight with Merab Dvalishvili.
The former UFC Bantamweight Champion attempts to reclaim the title he lost to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 316 this weekend.
Sean O’Malley made quite a few lifestyle changes following a unanimous decision defeat to Dvalishvili at UFC 306 last September. The 30-year-old gave up several vices earlier this year and joined forces with former champions Demetrious Johnson and Israel Adesanya in his training camp for Dvalishvili.
The latest change for O’Malley? His colorful hair.
For the last 5 years, O’Malley has dyed his hair crazy colors for his fights. From rainbow hair to the flag of Ecuador, O’Malley’s done it all when it comes to hair dye.
The knockout artist surprisingly reverted to his natural hair color for his return and was asked if it had any meaning behind it in a new interview.
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Sean O’Malley refused a two-day wait to dye his hair
Speaking to Spinnin Backfist, the vintage-looking O’Malley says the decision to not dye his hair ‘something beautiful’ came down to two things.
“It was somewhat [a pointed move] but I was also like, man, I do not wanna sit for 6, 7, 8 hours and get it done,” O’Malley said.
“It takes two days sometimes,” O’Malley added.
“We break it up into two days. It’ll be like 5 hours, 3 hours, 4 hours, 4 hours. So, we break it up in two days.
“I was not trying to sit…”
The last time O’Malley had his natural brown hair was in his 2020 return where he earned a $50K bonus KO of Jose Quinonez.
“OG natural hair… My daughter hates it,” O’Malley said on UFC Embedded.
“She’s never seen me with natural hair. She wanted it pink. So, I f—– up,” O’Malley admitted.
Sean O’Malley simulated title fight in last sparring session
O’Malley had a ‘little visualization’ for his title rematch with Dvalishvili.
In his final sparring session before UFC 316, O’Malley recreated his iconic walk-out with ‘Superstar’ by Lupe Fiasco playing as he entered his own personal cage.
Team O’Malley put a speaker near the cage to mimic the audience noise while he was sparring. That was a first, according to ‘Suga’.
“We haven’t done [that before],” O’Malley said.
“We sparred late in the afternoon, tried to time it up somewhat to what it’s gonna be like on Saturday night. Did the walkout.
“It was cool. It was a little visualization,” O’Malley added, saying the idea to simulate the fight came from his head coach Tim Welch.