Alex Pereira, Khamzat Chimaev, Sean O’Malley; these are the new faces of the UFC. Gone are the days of Conor McGregor and Jon Jones who have dominated the minds of the fans for a decade or more. Sean O’Malley gets a special opportunity this weekend at UFC 306, or as they’re branding it, UFC Noche.
UFC 306 is a special show as it’s the most ambitious that the promotion has done. Unique from the typical UFC 100, 200, and 300 and others like UFC 217, the whole point of UFC 306 is to be a spectacle, entertainment. Sean O’Malley is sitting at the helm of that entertainment, in the main event.
The inevitable rise of Sean O’Malley
From day one, when Sean O’Malley knocked out Alfred Khashakyan on the Contender Series, we knew that “Suga” Sean was special. It seems that his rise was inevitable, like Thanos snapping half the universe away. Always meant to happen, O’Malley took his time, biding it until his time was right.
The slow and deliberate growth of the stardom of O’Malley was carefully cultivated by the UFC brass. After seeing the heights of what an MMA fighter’s stardom can be (Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey), Sean O’Malley is the recipient of the promotional push.
O’Malley worked his way through a lower tier of fighters like Terrion Ware and Eddie Wineland, not to grow too fast. They were letting O’Malley simmer to thicken up and become more of a household name.
O’Malley suffered one hiccup against Marlon Vera, losing on what many thought was a fluke. O’Malley kept his head down and continued to win. Thomas Almeida, Kris Mountinho and Raulian Paiva were next.
O’Malley stumbled with a no contest to Pedro Munhoz and the UFC decided it was time to make a king.
Kingmaking: The conquering
Sean O’Malley and the UFC were ready for a new king. They booked he versus former champion Petr Yan. Yan was coming off of a loss to Aljamain Sterling and was looking for a quick bounce back.
Sean O’Malley wasn’t supposed to beat Petr Yan. He wasn’t supposed to beat the number one contender. But he did. The fight was a close affair and many thought Yan won. But two of the three judges said O’Malley was the winner. Now it was his shot at the title.
Aljamain Sterling was the name of the game. With three title defenses under his belt, pun intended, Sterling took on O’Malley at UFC 292. The second round saw O’Malley drop Sterling with a cross and take the title. Sean O’Malley wasn’t supposed to beat Sterling. He’d never fought a wrestler like that. But here he was, holding that title the new champion.
The Sean O’Malley era hadn’t begun in this moment. Little did we know, the O’Malley era began a while back. It just took us a moment to realize it.
Revenge
The most recent phase of O’Malley’s career has been about revenge. He secured revenge over Marlon Vera for handing him his only career loss. Merab Dvalishvili, his opponent at UFC 306, is trying to get revenge for his teammate Aljamain Sterling.
Breathing down his neck is a litany of other bantamweight contenders like Umar Nurmagomedov and Deiveson Figueiredo.
But make no mistake about it, until he’s dethroned, Sean O’Malley is the A-side in any of the potential matchups coming his way. Umar, Figueiredo, Topuria, Pantoja, you name it. It’s about the Suga Show.
Sean O’Malley is headlining the most creative event the UFC has ever put on at the Sphere in Las Vegas. If Dana White is to be believed, a 1 of 1. Sean O’Malley looks to prove that he, too, is a 1 of 1 fighter.
