Sean O’Malley will not be a UFC champion any longer, however he stays one of the vital widespread and well-known superstars on the roster and his viral look on The Contender Sequence performed a minimum of some half in that.
Again in 2017 when the UFC first launched the brand new sequence geared toward signing prime prospects from around the globe, O’Malley was that includes throughout an early episode when he flattened Alfred Khashakyan with a brutal first-round knockout. The end had UFC CEO Dana White off his ft however what was maybe most memorable from that battle moreover the knockout was rapper Snoop Dogg offering commentary.
Throughout the inaugural season of The Contender Sequence, the UFC supplied an alternate “SnoopCast” model of the present with the well-known rapper offering commentary for the fights alongside Urijah Faber, however his boisterous response to O’Malley’s debut solely elevated the thrill surrounding his entry into the promotion.
“I imply the knockout was going to go viral regardless,” O’Malley mentioned about that second when talking to TMZ. “Simply this skinny little white dude with a fro, simply sleeping this Russian. I imply that might have been viral regardless.
“The Snoop [commentary] simply elevated it to an insane degree. He posted me on his Instagram twice in a row, like back-to-back and it simply completely blew up. I feel it will have executed massive numbers with out it however completely insane numbers with it.”
The video clip that includes Snoop Dogg’s commentary has over 1.1 million views on YouTube to not point out the explosion on social media.
Following that win, O’Malley joined the UFC roster the place he’s turn into one of many largest stars within the sport to not point out ultimately claiming the bantamweight title earlier than dropping it to Merab Dvalishvili this previous yr.
Whereas he all the time felt destined to do nice issues within the sport, O’Malley admits it’s a bit of surreal to consider how his UFC profession began, particularly with any person like Snoop Dogg provding commentary to his battle.
“It was simply reaffirming to myself like what I assumed, what I felt was taking place was true,” O’Malley mentioned. “That really felt like the start. That is the beginning of what I had form of constructed up in my thoughts. Like that is the start of the imaginative and prescient.”
O’Malley praised the Contender Sequence for serving to to launch his profession and the platform has executed the identical for tons of of fighters ever since. White has claimed quite a few instances up to now that he would produce Contender Sequence each week for the remainder of his life if he had the selection, though the present in the end rolls out in a season lengthy format to permit the expertise coffers to refill over time.
Whereas Contender Sequence is technically a part of the larger UFC machine, O’Malley really believes the sequence has carved out a spot of its personal on the fight sports activities desk, even perhaps larger than all the different main organizations on the market.
“The Contender Sequence is the second largest promotion on the earth,” O’Malley mentioned. “It’s UFC after which Contender Sequence. There’s nothing actually that’s competing with it. I imply PFL is however to be trustworthy, I watch extra Contender Sequence than I watch PFL or Bellator, you continue to don’t actually know what’s happening there. However Contender Sequence is a big alternative for these guys to go on the market and make a reputation for themselves.”
O’Malley is definitely planning to attend an upcoming episode of Contender Sequence when one in all his teammates is scheduled to compete.
That journey to Las Vegas the place the present is movie can be going to offer O’Malley the prospect to fulfill with UFC executives to start discussing plans for his subsequent battle.
O’Malley has been out of motion since April when he dropped a second straight battle to Dvalishvili, which successfully put him out of the title race in the intervening time.
There are nonetheless loads of different alternatives on the market and O’Malley hopes to get phrase quickly on when he will get to battle once more.
“Nothing proper now,” O’Malley mentioned about his present battle schedule. “I don’t have actually too many concepts. I’m going to go discuss to the UFC that Monday earlier than the battle [on the Contender Series] on Tuesday. So I’m going to go discuss the UFC in two weeks and hopefully get one thing on the market.
“I wouldn’t thoughts combating yet another time this yr, November-December. November, clearly they do [Madison Square Garden in New York], December, they sometimes do Vegas. A kind of sound good and if not, if it doesn’t work out, subsequent yr I’m able to go.”
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