Sean O'Malley and 4 other UFC fighters who had favorable paths to the title
Not all UFC fighters have the same journey, with some experiencing favoritism from the promotion. While Belal Muhammad and Leon Edwards had to compile lengthy unbeaten streaks to finally sniff their first title shot, others were given a crack relatively quickly.
In most cases, it comes down to being on the good side of the promotion's upper brass and exhibiting a certain level of star power that, in the eyes of Dana White and co., justifies the biased treatment. However, in other cases, it's due to mere circumstances, even a shortage of worthy title challengers.
While not every title challenger who has been given a favorable path to their first championship fight has succeeded, plenty have been given the chance to.
#5. Anthony Smith
It's easy to forget just how head-scratching Anthony Smith's light heavyweight title shot against Jon Jones was. This is mainly due to the fact that 'Lionheart' has had a largely unremarkable career as a journeyman that most fans did not pay much attention to until recently.
He spent the bulk of his career as a decent middleweight, where he was knocked out by Thiago Santos before making his light heavyweight debut against a 38-year-old Rashad Evans on a four-fight losing streak. Smith won and followed that up by beating another aging legend in Maurício 'Shogun' Rua, who he also beat.
Check out Anthony Smith TKO'ing Maurício 'Shogun' Rua:
It is worth noting that Evans was unranked then, and Rua was ranked No.8 when they fought. He finally scored a quality win by beating the top three-ranked Volkan Oezdemir. That was enough to earn him a title shot. A three-fight win streak, with two opponents being relics of the past.
#4. Islam Makhachev
While Islam Makhachev has more than justified his eventual coronation as the lightweight king, he was given a relatively easy path to the title. Some of the names on his pre-championship record are impressive, especially in retrospect, given how far Arman Tsarukyan and Dan Hooker have come.
Tsarukyan, however, was unranked at the time. Unfortunately, this was also the case with Drew Dober, who the Dagestani beat convincingly. Thiago Moises, ranked No.14 at the time, was Makhachev's first ranked win. After that, ufc-267-corner-footage-shows-khabib-nurmagomedov-wincing-islam-makhachev-brutally-submitted-dan-hooker" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-is-sponsored="false">he beat the then No.8-ranked Hooker, who was 1-2 in his last three fights at the time.
Afterward, though, he faced the then-unranked Bobby Green, who made a two-week turnaround to step in on just 10 days' notice against him. Makhachev won and was awarded a title shot against Charles Oliveira.
#3. Conor McGregor
Back in 2013, the UFC only ranked the top 10 in each division, not the top 15. So, when Conor McGregor broke into the promotion's featherweight division, he was unranked, as were the foes he beat in Marcus Brimage and a then unpolished Max Holloway, the latter of whom had lost to even Dennis Bermudez at the time.
He was nowhere near the Holloway of today. Next year, with the rankings updated to include the top 15, the Irishman faced the still unraked Diego Brandão, who he TKO'd. Finally, he took on the then No.5-ranked Dustin Poirier, who had yet to undergo the technical metamorphosis that led him to interim gold.
'The Notorious' TKO'd him and then TKO'd the aging No.10 ranked Dennis Siver, who was 1-1 (1) in his last three fights at the time. This led him to his first title shot, which saw McGregor conveniently avoid every strong wrestler in the division. However, a rib injury forced José Aldo to withdraw from their bout.
Instead, the Irishman faced Chad Mendes, a worthy foe, for interim gold. Unfortunately, Mendes stepped in on very short notice and was TKO'd after gassing out. After that, McGregor and Aldo finally had their undisputed title fight.
#2. Alex Pereira
When Alex Pereira made his UFC debut, most of his appeal revolved around his kickboxing wins over then-reigning middleweight champion Israel Adesanya. So it was no surprise when he was fast-tracked to a title fight with 'The Last Stylebender.'
To do so, he had to defeat two unranked fighters in Andreas Michailidis and Bruno Silva, before facing the No.4-ranked Sean Strickland, knocking him out in impressive fashion. That was enough for him to earn a title shot against Adesanya, a three-fight win streak over two unranked foes and Strickland.
Check out Alex Pereira's knockout of Andreas Michailidis:
While Pereira has since justified the expectations the MMA world has of him by going on to capture middleweight and light heavyweight gold, it was still a remarkably easy path to the 185-pound title.
#1. Sean O'Malley
Most of Sean O'Malley's highlight reel consists of wins over unranked competition. The opponents he styled on are unremarkable, to say the least. His first seven UFC fights were all against unranked foes, including a future ranked fighter in Marlon Vera, who would hand him his first loss.
The playbook for O'Malley was clear. He was being built up against vastly overmatched opposition. When he finally faced a ranked opponent, it was the No.15 Raulian Paiva, a fighter of no renown. Naturally, 'Sugar' TKO'd him before facing the No.10-ranked Pedro Munhoz.
An unintentional eye poke rendered Munhoz unable to continue, leading to a no-contest. For this, the No.12-ranked 'Sugar' was rewarded with a fight against the No.1-ranked Petr Yan, beating him via a controversial split-decision before being given a title shot against Aljamain Sterling.