Sean O'Malley believes UFC could set up potential crossover fight between himself and boxer Ryan Garcia down the line - "The UFC, they're about money"
UFC bantamweight phenom Sean O'Malley's growing success in the UFC octagon has him envisioning a big money fight in the boxing ring.
O'Malley won the biggest fight of his career at UFC 280 against Petr Yan and jumped 10 spots in the bantamweight rankings to become the No.1 contender. In addition to his ambitions inside the octagon, 'Sugar' spoke on Logan Paul's IMPAULSIVE podcast about wanting to box in the future:
"Dude, speaking of boxing, I'd f**king love to box one of these days. Well, [I can't] unless I get big enough [to convince the UFC to allow it]. Conor versus Floyd happened. I'm waiting for another guy my size. Gervonta Davis, I know, he's not really a pay-per-view guy. Maybe he will be someday, but like realistically, he's not like that."
Logan Paul then suggested popular lightweight Ryan Garcia as a potential opponent, which got O'Malley excited:
"That's what I am saying! We [O'Malley and Garcia] gotta keep doing our thing, keep both winning and become big enough to where the UFC - 'cause the UFC, they're about money. So if there's the opportunity, five, six years down the line, I'm the f**king man, there's another f**king man in boxing, UFC would be down. They would be down, but it has to be big enough."
Catch O'Malley's full comments on the IMPAULSIVE podcast on YouTube:
Garcia has been undefeated in his boxing career and holds a 23-0 record with 19 knockout wins. 'The Flash', as he is known, has quickly made a name for himself and is well-known on social media. He is tipped by many to be a future world champion.
Fans have long demanded a fight between Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia:
Sean O'Malley maintained that although the UFC contract stipulates against him venturing out by himself to fight outside the promotion, his future stardom could tip the scales in his favor. He also stressed the importance of offering commercial value to the UFC in order to set up a boxing crossover.
Sean O'Malley claims Henry Cejudo is broke
Perhaps Sean O'Malley's plans to fight a commercially lucrative boxing match align with his comments about Henry Cejudo's finances and wanting to avoid a similar situation.
O'Malley spoke on The MMA Hour recently and addressed Cejudo's Twitter callout:
“I heard from someone close to Henry that he’s got like $37 in the bank and he’s literally doing anything to try and book a fight and get some money. I don’t know Henry’s like opening main card, co-main event dude. Even if him and Aljo go fight it’ll be a co-main event on some card. I feel like every time we talk about this guy, it’s like is he actually coming back? You know? I don’t know, I don’t put much thought into that.”
Although Sean O'Malley played down 'Triple C' and his commercial appeal, from an MMA perspective, a meeting between the two would surely attract fans.
Catch Sean O'Malley's comments about Cejudo on The MMA Hour:
#TheMMAHour 
youtu.be/OcZpb9s9KdM.@SugaSeanMMA responds to Henry Cejudo's callout 👀 #TheMMAHour
"I heard from someone close to Henry that's he got like $37 in the bank and he's literally trying to do anything to get some money."
▶️ youtu.be/OcZpb9s9KdM https://t.co/FPtNkyp18V