UFC bantamweight Sean O’Malley has been hailed as the next big star in MMA. He seems to believe that he can be bigger than Conor McGregor.
O’Malley has been out of the cage since a knockout win over Raulian Paiva earlier this year. ‘Sugar’ is now set to return this summer in the biggest fight of his career against Pedro Munhoz.
With a win over Munhoz, O’Malley has the possibility to break into title contention. The 27-year-old has always been slated for not fighting top-level competition. However, that criticism goes out the window with a win over the Brazilian.
Sean O’Malley also seems to think he will rise to a new level with a win over Pedro Munhoz. While he believes that he’ll break into the top ten, he also believes it’s the next step to superstardom. The UFC bantamweight discussed his rise in the sport on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani.
“There’s no one doing it the way I want to do it. There’s no one doing it the way I’m capable of doing it. I just have to go out there and win these fights and make my own lane, the same way Conor did. I think Izzy is doing a really good job, he’s a super active champ. Kamaru is doing a really good job too… Obviously I want to be bigger than both those guys, as they want to be bigger than me and Conor and whoever. But I think I’m going to do just my own thing, my own path, and ideally, in my mind, it all starts with a dream.” (h/t MMAFighting)
Sean O’Malley continued, “I think me wanting to be bigger than Conor can sound silly right now, but if I go out there and knock out Pedro, knock out ‘Chito’ [Vera], whoever’s champ, beat [them] down, [then] I’m the champ [and] I’m very close to that. Conor’s had the crazy moments with Jose Aldo and the Chad Mendes [win] and all those fights, the Nate [Diaz] fights. He’s had some sweet fights. I still have to go out there and have those sweet fights and those sweet moments to be that big, and I’m totally capable of that. I’m 27 years old. I’m a f*cking animal right now and I’m excited to go out there and prove that against ‘Prelim Pedro.’”