Sean O’Malley has by no means hidden the truth that he regarded as much as Conor McGregor as one of many fighters he wished to mannequin his profession after, however the two UFC superstars went by way of a tough patch not that way back.
It began with McGregor mentioning O’Malley alongside boxer Ryan Garcia after he examined constructive for a similar banned substance as the previous UFC bantamweight champion when he had his win towards Devin Haney overturned to a no-contest. O’Malley and McGregor ended up exchanging various nasty messages by way of interviews and social media, however it seems they’ve lastly squashed no matter beef there was between them.
Within the leadup to his rematch towards Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 316, O’Malley watched a variety of fights for inspiration together with McGregor’s barnburner rematch towards Nate Diaz from 2016 when the previous two-division champion avenged his first ever loss within the octagon. McGregor later commented that he was “very excited” for O’Malley’s rematch and recommended him for related preparation when he needed to avenge his personal loss to Diaz.
“Hell yeah, I’ll take it,” O’Malley mentioned reacting to McGregor’s feedback throughout UFC 316 media day. “I’ll perpetually be an enormous Conor fan.
“I really feel grateful to have the ability to watch his come up in my era, I watched it occur. I feel we’ll look again, he had one of many craziest careers. It’s cool to have the ability to watch it occur whereas I used to be moving into the UFC and every little thing. I’m pumped the connection is again to good.”
Now O’Malley admits that McGregor wasn’t the one fighter he was learning as he makes an attempt to get again on observe towards Dvalishvili on Saturday.
Whereas he undoubtedly had McGregor vs. Diaz 2 on his playlist, O’Malley says he was learning a variety of different rematches and previous performances to achieve inspiration as he makes an attempt to knock off Dvalishvili and reclaim the bantamweight title.
“So I used to be watching Conor-Nate — I’ve simply been watching a bunch of fights, we simply have cameras recording a lot, I didn’t notice that was a second that bought captured,” O’Malley mentioned. “I’ve been watching a bunch of fights.
“I’ve been watching some rematches, watched Chuck [Liddell] versus Randy [Couture]. I’ve by no means watched Chuck Liddell fights. Clearly, I knew who he was, however I’ve by no means [watched his fights]. So I’ve been watching a variety of old skool fights, it’s been cool.”
That mentioned, O’Malley nonetheless has a ton of admiration for McGregor and the way in which he conquered the world whereas turning into the primary fighter in UFC historical past to carry two titles concurrently after he win each light-weight and featherweight gold.
From his showmanship exterior the cage to his blistering performances contained in the octagon, O’Malley is aware of there’s all the time one thing to achieve from watching McGregor at his peak.
“I’ve all the time taken inspiration from Conor fights,” O’Malley mentioned. “I’ve watched Conor fights greater than most likely any [fights] — effectively [I watch] my fights extra — however I’ve watched a variety of Conor fights.”
