Sean O’Malley is coming off a TKO win over UFC debutante Kris Moutinho at UFC 264. The win took him to 14-1 as a pro and followed a KO over Thomas Almeida in March. Since beating Moutinho, who was a late replacement for Louis Smolka, O’Malley has been candid in discussing his methods of selecting opponents.
He revealed that he wasn’t interested in fighting ranked fighters at this stage of his career, since his contract meant he was paid the same regardless if he fought Moutinho, Smolka or former UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan.
After it was reported that O’Malley had turned down at UFC 268 against a then unnamed opponent, ‘Suga’ also claimed that UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby treated him “like a piece of shit.