"When you're champ, that could get a little dicey" - Brendan Schaub details the flipside of "smart dude" Sean O'Malley not having a manager

Brendan Schaub (left) and Sean O'Malley (right). [Image courtesy: left image from onnit.com, right image from Getty Images]

Sean O'Malley continues to rise within the ranks at the UFC and with it his commercial value too. The bantamweight recently commented about handling his sponsorship deals independently without the need for an agent or a management agency.

On an episode of The MMA Hour, he revealed to Ariel Helwani that he does not see the need to go through an agent for his endorsements:

"I am my management. Solo dolo, no middleman, no one taking a random percentage for being a middleman. I do all my own deals, and s**t gets done right."

Former UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub, who now speaks on his own podcast, weighed in on O'Malley's bold decision. Schaub said on The Schaub Show:

"Yeah, as long as it works for him. He's making bank. I think it could get dicey, when, say he beats Petr Yan and let's say he were to beat the winner of Aljo and TJ. When you're champ, that could go a little dicey."

Schaub further explained where it could cause problems for 'Sugar':

"Because, listen, I'm all about not going with big management but if you have big management, they can at least go, 'Hey, we have this current champ, he's getting this, you deserve this.' 'Cause then you don't know your value, you know. But I'm sure you could find out. Sugar's [Sean O'Malley] a smart dude."

Check out his full comments in the YouTube video below (starting at 40:43):

Sean O'Malley is up for the biggest fight of his career

In a very surprising matchup to many, Sean O'Malley landed the biggest fight of his career against Petr Yan at UFC 280 in October. Impressively, he also did it without any middle-management intervention.

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However, there remain doubts about how he will cope in the octagon with the former bantamweight champion. Having faced Petr Yan twice in a championship bout, Aljamain Sterling is well placed to sound off a warning to Sean O'Malley.

Accordingly, the current bantamweight champion has warned O'Malley of Yan's incredible resilience.

O'Malley has however reassured his fans and critics that he will only elevate his game going into the fight. Yan is the No. 1 ranked contender in the bantamweight division and 'Sugar' will look to make a statement in the fight against him:

"I think the higher level guys I fight, the better ‘Sugar’ you guys are going to get. I’ve not been able to show my true MMA skills inside the octagon. I really did think Pedro was going to be the one to bring it out of me. It wasn’t, obviously. That went how it went. But I think Petr’s the guy to really let us see how good I really am.”

Check out O'Malley's promise to his fans: