Sean O'Malley puzzled by UFC's "weird" memo prohibiting fighters from betting
It's safe to say that Sean O'Malley isn't a fan of the UFC's new restrictions on gambling.
The promotion recently amended its athlete conduct policy to ban contracted fighters from betting on any UFC fights. The decision raised a lot of eyebrows in the MMA community, including O'Malley's.
During an episode of his BrOMalley Show podcast, the up-and-coming bantamweight star revealed that he received the memo through email. O'Malley mentioned, "I did get an email about betting, though. I'm not allowed to bet on fights anymore."
Speaking with his brother and co-host, Daniel, the UFC star was noticeably bewildered that he could no longer place bets on fights. O'Malley argued that he doesn't see the logic in the move as fighters can't really influence the outcome of contests other than their own:
"I mean, how can I not bet on fights? I have nothing to do with f***ing 99% of the roster. It's so weird," O'Malley continued. "I'm curious how they'll monitor that. There's thousands of them. I guess there's not that many high-level fighters and coaches. I guess they could monitor it..."
Check out Sean O'Malley's reaction in the clip below:
Per the memo, the decision was made to preserve the integrity of the sport. It's commonplace for professional athletes to be banned from gambling in their respective sports, but the UFC has allowed their fighters to bet on fights until recently.
Sean O'Malley thinks Petr Yan was forced to accept fight against him
Sean O'Malley will get a massive step up in competition when he locks horns with Petr Yan at Saturday's UFC 280 pay-per-view event.
Although O'Malley is regarded as the underdog, he believes that the UFC had to force Yan into taking the fight. During the UFC 280 media day, O'Malley said:
"Petr turned down ‘Chito’ [Marlon Vera], so don’t think he really had an option,” O’Malley said. “I think the UFC went to him and said, 'Hey, you can’t keep turning these guys down … you have to fight the 'Suga Show.'"
Check out Sean O'Malley's comments below:
However, Yan claimed the opposite during an interview on The MMA Hour. The former UFC bantamweight champion claimed he proactively asked the matchmakers for a matchup against O'Malley.