UFC's Sean O'Malley hits out at Reebok
Sean O'Malley has had an amazing 2020. He has already gone 2-0 in the year, which includes a highlight-reel knockout over Eddie Wineland that got him the knockout of the year award. Sean O'Malley also engaged in a feud with the former champion Cody Garbrandt over whose knockout was better before he finally turned to an issue that has been nagging in the UFC for some time now, fighter pay.
Sean O'Malley in an interview with MMA Fighting went into detail about what was happening with the UFC Reebok deal and how he wasn't making money out of it. In the interview, Sean O'Malley first spoke about not knowing what was what before he started taking note of the amount being generated. Sean O'Malley said,
“I didn’t even know it got blown up until my dad said ‘did you see that article?’ and I said no and he said something. I didn’t know it blew up”
Sean O'Malley then added about what kind of craziness the Reebok deal was generating. He said that Reebok had been making over a million dollars for back to back years but had only paid him 5000 dollars. That was an exceptionally low amount.
“The whole Reebok thing is insane. I think it was back-to-back years that it was over a million dollars [of merchandise sold]. I know one year for sure, I don’t want to say anything that’s not true but I have it in my e-mails, I think it was back-to-back years they did over a million dollars with the shirts and whatever else they sell on Reebok and I got $3,000 and $5,000 I think for those. Absolutely insane.”
Sean O'Malley starting his own merchandise chain.
Sean O'Malley then added that he was now urging fans not to buy whatever Reebok was selling. Sean O'Malley then said that he was dropping his own line of merchandise and that was something he had wanted to do for a long time.
“People are always like ‘I love the Reebok shirts, where can I get them?’ I’m like don’t [buy them]. I ain’t getting sh*t from them. We’re dropping my own merch line soon and I think it’s going to be fun,” Sean O’Malley said. “That’s something I’ve always wanted to do, too, get into the ‘Suga’ brand, the clothing, and I think it’s slowly going to build like any business and be something really cool.”