Former UFC Bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley has seen his share of ups-and-downs inside the Octagon.
“Suga” started his UFC career hot with a stellar debut appearance on Contender Series that grew his star tremendously (the Snoop Dogg co-sign surely helped). Before too long, he was 4-0 inside the UFC proper and score major knockouts, but then he suffered his first professional loss: a brutal ground strikes TKO at the hands and elbows of Marlon Vera.
O’Malley would rebound from that defeat with an unbeaten run that saw him capture and defend UFC gold before meeting Merab Dvalishvili and losing his belt in consecutive losses. Now nine years into his UFC career, O’Malley has competed 15 times inside the Octagon and has opened up about the stress and anxiety of being a fighter at the highest level.
“There’s always this little bit of anxiety, little bit of stress while you’re in the sport. I’m ranked No. 3 or 2 or whatever. I know I’m gonna have a hard fight camp again. I know I’m gonna have to cut weight again. I know I’m gonna have to fight again. The emotions — the highs and lows of winning and losing — are so intense. There’s like a little bit of stress and anxiety, even I have right now. I’m not in camp. I have nothing booked. I can chill. There’s still this little bit left of like ‘we’re have to do it again’ that I’m tuning into. It’s interesting.
Even when I’m most peaceful and chill, your body still knows how brutal those fight camps are, how brutal the weight cuts are, how tough the fights are. You just gotta do it again.”
Perhaps the anxiety explains why his retirement is imminent.
