Sean O'Malley Talks Childhood, Rise to Stardom & More | FULL INTERVIEW w/ Megan Olivi

Sean we don't often do this for our interviews but this is quite the elaborate set because you've got a big personality so we had to show it here yeah well it's fitting looks good I appreciate you guys going above and beyond for me as long as we get the sugar seal approval then we are all set all right so as I Was preparing for this interview I realized that I don't know too much about you growing up I know that you're the middle of three boys but what was your experience in childhood like were you an athlete were you playing tons of sports were you totally away from organized sports or what was your life like as young as I can remember if I feel like I was always playing sports um you know I think baseball was like the youngest baseball and soccer um we're like almost three four five just anything my parents could kind of get get us some energy out so I feel like I've been playing sports since that's like the oldest memories I have is playing sports um you know in team sports basketball football baseball soccer those four we're always rotating sometimes soccer and baseball were the same season overlapping each other so I'd go from a soccer game to a baseball game um but all year round we were playing sports as you got older did you have a favorite um I think my favorite was football um but I was just so I was so small and I always felt like the coaches didn't I'm like put me in I can make plays maybe I just I don't know I feel like I wasn't getting the attention I wanted in football basketball and these certain sports that uh that's what kind of drove me away from team sports I feel like they had favorites and if you weren't the favorite you weren't going to play as much and it drove me crazy I would want to play the entire basketball game I would hate getting taken out in a game um I would pout I had you know pretty bad attitude I was never really you're not taught really at those ages to kind of you know you taught how to play the game but you're not taught how to deal with the mental you know things like getting taken out like hey all right it's like we gotta all get in I was I was very competitive but as I got into high school you know I didn't like school at all hated school I did not want to go to school you had to go to school you had to get good grades to play these Sports um so I I got turned away from that kind of those Sports and I was like well I want to play one-on-one sport I want to try boxing I want to try kickboxing and that's kind of how I got introduced to Combat Sports but I was very it's so it was so Random it was just that that was the sport that I knew was one-on-one um and it was in high school so I was like definitely we'll get chicks from this that was that was one of like the main things was you know I want to impress the chicks I think fighting that'll do it so I started fighting and uh she started kickboxing kind of just go to the gym and you know you'd Spar you weren't I wasn't really taught to throw one two I wasn't really taught how to you know do these things that hit mitts kind of like one two slip two and I just kind of do these things naturally and I remember my coaches were like oh wow like you have some you know I had to pop on the mids let's book you a fight kickboxing fight 16 knock the knock someone out get a couple kickboxing fights knock some more people out and I was like okay this is you know this is fun I kind of start to build that that confidence that I was looking for very insecure in high school as we all are you know you have you know you want to look good you want to you want to impress the chicks in high school like girls never understand how hard it is for a young man in high school you just want to impress them so bad so very insecure in high school and that's kind of what led me to fighting did it impress the chicks I think so no I I feel like uh looking back on it I remembered that vividly like that's kind of why I got into it but looking back on it I don't know if it really uh I think just my confidence that I gained from it was the more what was I was able to you know talk to chicks easier I don't know if it was necessarily like hey watch this fight I got me the chicks I think it was just the confidence that came with it sure but that wasn't always your take on martial arts specifically the UFC I mean your dad kind of infamously spoke about you saying how can you guys watch this when he and your brothers were watching I have a vivid memory of of like watching I feel like it was I want to say it was a WBC fight when like Uriah and I think it was like Ryan Dominic might have been I don't remember who it was fine I remember it was your eye on somebody and uh they were like get punched in the chin and kicked in the ribs and I was like I don't understand how they can even and they were just standing there boom hit it and then they're fine and it was just gross to me I was like that doesn't make sense at all um yeah and I was I was honestly like disgusted by it I was like I can't watch that I don't like to see that so when you did it yourself did it change did your mindset say like oh I get it now a little bit I remember being that was like when I was I mean it's hard to say how old I was I was pretty young 10 11 12 maybe around that age when I saw that I don't know if someone's gonna do the math and like WC was around or something like that could have been I don't know I feel like I was pretty young and it was years later where I started kickboxing so you know I think I might have been pre-puberty when I saw it and then you know hit people like okay I could probably take those guys WC was the best I I didn't even really start watching UFC like actually start watching until a minute it was like Conor started like that's kind of what that's kind of when it wasn't because of Conor but that's kind of when I started like following the sport so I got in the kickboxing MMA and wanted to be in the UFC before I even cared about watching it do you remember realizing that you were good enough to maybe make a future out of fighting um I remember so I had my first MMA fight when I was 18. I was like all right if I win this fight I'll keep doing it if not you know I'm gonna have to just you know keep working and just try something else won that first fight and uh God it seems so blurry trying to pick like when when I kind of started thinking about certain things but 18 started I had my first MMA fight and I it was addicted I'd already had four kickboxing fights I already had boxing fights but MMA was addicting I knew very very I knew zero wrestling and very little Jiu Jitsu um I had knocked the dude out in the second round and it was just it was addicting it was like okay as much as I hate those Sports I have to learn how to do that if I want to fight MMX I just thought MMA was a lot more fun than kickboxing for whatever reason even though I didn't like the wrestling in Jiu Jitsu MMA was still cooler it was you know it was a realistic to become in my mind rich and famous you know I don't think kickboxing boxing I I didn't watch Boxing at all so I didn't think that was a route it was like wow I guess like I knew what the UFC was so I was like maybe I could do that so how did contenders come into play here because for the rest of us it seemed like history was made when you stepped into that octagon for Dana White's Contender series but what's the lead up to that moment like for you yeah so being from Montana we fought you know I had a lot of amateur fights I had like 14 amateur fights which is uh which is a lot of fights a lot of experiences really what what I got out of that the guys I was fighting sucked like everyone I fought as an amateur for the most part was not good but I was gaining this confidence because I was winning I was knocking people out so I was gaining a lot of confidence a lot of experience from those fights um and uh yeah so I fought they were all in Montana all my amateur fights were Montana except for two one was in like Seattle knocked this dude out thought I killed him hit him oh my God it was crazy like Kim with a question mark kick stiffened him up and he was out for like 10 minutes it was scary but it was cool after I knew he was fine um and then I had one amateur fight in Arizona uh other than that all my fights were back in in Montana turned Pro and I think my first five fights were in Montana um so five or six fights in Montana and then I think I had one in North Dakota and then I fought here LFA um I don't remember which LFA LFA right before the contender series I knew Dana and Sean were supposed to be at that card I remember hearing that and then I remember hearing you know fight week fight day whatever it was that they're not going to be there I'm like well they'll see this they'll see this performance if I can go out there and and do what I know I'm capable of doing I'm fighting a guy named David uh snuzo David nuzo is what his name really is but I was calling him David snoozer because he was going to take a nap and uh he sure did I hit him with a beautiful right head kick into a spinning uh heel kick right to the chin after I'd already dropped him about like two times all in the first round and I knew that was going to go viral I knew the contender series was being talked about it was this thing that was coming up I was like if I can go out there and do what I know I'm capable of doing putting this dude's lights out I will get on the contender series and that's my way into UFC I was also only 21 at this time 21 22. so in my mind I was like I'm I'm still super young I'm still pretty early on in the wrestling Jiu Jitsu like I'm still I've been I'm living that I'm trying to get better fast um but I was still young in my career so I wasn't worried I wasn't even stressed about like okay if I get on the contender series which I was pretty sure I was going to a 7-0 I think I was like I'll probably get on the commander Series win or lose you know it's okay I had a good mindset going into that fight I was like win or lose I'm going to continue to get better and I will be in the UFC by the time I'm 24 25 I remember doing an interview saying that um had a horrible camp for the contender series I had a bad concussion I was eating a vegan diet I was like 139 pounds walking into the Octagon I'd already weighed in I had a bad I couldn't eat this concussion was was not good had headaches and it was bad but you know I mean for whatever reason I was confident I was like I can knock this guy out I've been doing it you know since I was 16 I've been knocking people out I'm on a run right now coming off a crazy knockout I know what I'm capable of um and I'm gonna go in there and get the job done Snoop Dogg's commentating Dana White Sean Shelby they're going to be sitting right there have to go out there and perform and that's that's where I feel like my biggest asset is is my ability to perform under the lights and get the job done no matter what and I like I said I did not feel good I was not I shouldn't have been fighting that night and uh you know I had battled some early adversity Alfred who was very good at the time eight and three with eight finishes um and I went in there he put me on my back got up and you know put his lights out I want to ask about two different things you kind of hit on because you had talked about as a kid you maybe had like a bad attitude when it came to team sports but how did you go in there saying like all right if I don't win it's okay because that is a pretty big and pretty mature transition to make in terms of your mindset yeah I don't that's a good question I do remember like so I moved in with Tim Tim and I got an apartment um in Phoenix and we kind of started together learning how to you know try to eat healthier kind of reading mindset books and I hated reading hated school but for me to be I was like oh I can read a book about mindset and athletes like I thought that was really cool about performance I'm like okay that's something I'm actually into I will actually go to a coffee shop sit down for half an hour and read um so I started reading I don't know around which time what time but I do believe it was around that time that I started reading a little bit and and listening and learning about you know mindset and I think that was a powerful powerful uh tool for me is that what led then to you having this confidence because you were saying you know in the lead up to Contender after the winning Contender that you could make waves in the UFC that you could be the champion and while many fighters believe that and you almost have to going into a fight having that mindset you were speaking about it on a different level I mean is is that those books and all that work you put in is that also where the confidence came from yeah I think so I think I think the true confidence comes from experience and the experiences I had fighting was knocking people out so that's where I got the true Confidence from I was always calm often especially after going out there knocking out so many people as a pro as an amateur I was like that's where the confidence came from um you know like I said I think Connor was kind of coming up right and then I fought in contenders 2017 so Connor was already kind of talking I was I take a lot from Connor I learned a ton from Connor um yeah so I think listening to Conor talk can be like and seeing his self-belief made me confident in in speaking my belief instead of you know that wasn't forced when I was on the contender series saying I have that thing I have what it takes I will be UFC champion I will be a superstar you hear people say that and that kind of sounds forced when I said that when I was 20 whatever years old 21 22 years old that was true at confidence I meant it and look where we're at now um so yeah I think you know I think it was from my experiences also I do believe it was from was from watching Conor people like you want to be Connor I'm like well I want to be as rich as Conor um you know I would love to do what Conor's done in the sport so if you if you if that's what it means then sure you know I want to be like Connor I also don't want to be like him in many other ways so I want to be you know I want to be the sugar show and and do my own thing and pave my own path and inspire people to you know want to do sweet have you guys interacted at all um not really I I did meet him once at a Cowboys football game I posted yes I remember seeing this on social media yeah I posted it on mute people went crazy like even if I didn't have it on me you couldn't have heard but I knew that it would you know go a little crazy if I posted on you um I don't re he kind of you see he said some stuff he also was trying to you know he he was trying to get me to sign with whatever company you know their their agency is and stuff and you know I wasn't there for that but other than that no not really I haven't um I've never really had much conversation I've never had any other conversation than that with Conor I've never talked to you on social media um yeah it'd be interesting to see you two train together but I want to get back to your story so you went on Contender series you get into the UFC and while we are exactly where you wanted to be where you predicted that you would be fighting for a world title it wasn't necessarily necessarily like a straight and perfectly smooth Road I want to talk about the Andrei sukum top fight I mean you had uh you had this epic post-fight interview is that a moment that stands out to you because it certainly is for a lot of us it's so funny you bring that up I literally I hadn't watched that fight and I would say probably years and I watched that fight yesterday I watched the Tarion where fight the debut fight um yesterday as well I watched those two back to back so I watched Terry on UFC debut and then I watched Andre's soccer mom and it's funny because a lot of people are like why do you think the fans like you so much why do they why are they engaged with you why do they care about your career and I would always be like I don't I don't know I think blah blah it's those performances I mean obviously the Alfred khashakian one in the contender series you see this skinny kid like you know with knocking someone out that's awesome having a crazy fight battling back and then you go watch my Terry on wear fight which I didn't get 50 G's from it was one of my early one of my rare fights that I didn't get a bonus from and I'm still upset about it they gave it to the main event don't remember who it was but it was not nearly as cool me and Tyrion deserve to get 50 000 each he had a great you know great role in that by not getting knocked out um but that fight with Tyrion was so entertaining it was a young Suga just flowing at its finest and it was a beautiful beautiful performance and it's one of my favorite fights to go back and watch um fast forward to the soccer mom fight so that was in December then I fight Andre in March um and battle with some serious adversity the first round I dropped them second round he takes me down ends up in a triangle go to an arm bar get him in a guillotine kind of sweep and end the round on his back um in that third round I throw a head kick and when I throw the head kick I remember they saying that's kind of where they thought my foot broke and it wasn't it was when I landed and I went to throw a right hand and I had a Liz Frank surgery which is a pretty major surgery so um yeah about two or three minutes left in the fight my foot snaps or whatever happens with a Liz Frank think the tendon snaps something like that horrible horrible I remember it was it was excruciating pain um and he took me down you know you know wasn't very smart but I also tell people I would have knocked him out on one foot too I was piecing them up so him taking me down people are saying it looks stupid but it would have looked a lot more stupid if I knocked him out on one foot um but he took me down my dumb ass actually is the one that got back up and then he took me down again that's where you could call him stupid go ahead but uh yeah that fight I I battled through adversity um got the job done and I think that is is where I did grow a very loyal fan base like this dude is is fun to watch what made you go back and watch that yesterday um I had a I had a workout where I was sitting on the assault bike for for quite a long time um at a certain heart rate and uh you know I think it was like 45 minutes I was sitting there so I watched back to back workout back-to-back fights um there so that's actually that's why I watched it oh okay so after that fight you have the Cheeto fight and I'm curious how Jose can you own us well I mean just later down the road but I'm curious how you reflect upon that time in that fight now especially where you are in the sport and the division yeah I got a lot of hate for saying that I will never accept that as a loss and I still won't um I know I didn't lose because he was better than me it was a freak accident he hasn't landed he hasn't kicked anyone else's perennial nerve so you can't tell me it was on purpose I mean yeah I threw a leg kick but to hit that ex specific exact spot where your foot goes numb I call it a freak accident um so to me I haven't been beaten in the Octagon um and and that's just how it that's how it feels that's how it that's how I'm experiencing life is I've never been in the octagon and actually lost um you know and I think Cheeto knows deep down that he got very very lucky that night but I'm not even I love how this my entire career's played out maybe maybe me beating Cheeto co-main event pushed me to the top a little bit too fast that setback set me up for Thomas Almeida which was a beautiful return one of my favorite fights to go back and watch dropped him in the first round finished him in the third round went absolutely nuts um you know and then slowly kind of built from there Thomas to to Chris montino light minute replacement so that fight not getting a beautiful finish you know which would have skyrocketed me to the top maybe too fast so I look at that it is you know it it's my my life is being guided from something higher and and it's meant for me to be in you know the way it's played out was meant to play out that way I'm curious because you've also been a guy who is okay with saying no it seems like a lot of times Fighters are pushed especially when they have a star like yours and ability like yours they're pushed pretty quickly or they're given crazy matchups or they're given big spots on cards and it seemed like you were okay being in the driver's seat telling Dana or whoever it may be like no and and you held firm to your beliefs I'm just curious because we don't see that a lot what led you to always lead those decision-making processes being able to manage my own career a lot of these guys have MMA managers that have too many guys on the roster with too many different you know plans too many different ways that all this might affect this fight or this might you know if I take this fight what does it do for the other guy in the same exact weight class MMA management and I will get that into that very deep into another interview um is is not where it should be um and so I think managing my own career having a direct relationship with the UFC having a very good relationship with the UFC has uh you know helped my career play out the way it has that yeah do you think that you could ever foresee yourself in the future doing something about MMA management maybe starting your own firm or getting involved in any way you know I think that would that takes a lot of energy um but I almost feel like a calling to it because there's a lot of athletes that are getting screwed very very bad paying these guys 20 of their money and for me to hear that it's very sad that these Fighters are going in there and these managers aren't really doing much they're relaying messages they're a middleman so you know UFC gets a deal they want to bring it direct to the athlete that's how it should be done but also a lot of these athletes might not want to they're like I just want to fight and it's like if you just want to fight you don't mind paying someone 15 20 percent I mean that's your you're dumb that's your that's your own thing but a lot of these guys they feel like they don't have a choice like that's how I have to get into doc this guy's a relationship with Dana this guy's a relationship with Sean I have to use this guy to get into the UFC and these managers are signing these con these these fighters on horrible contracts very very disgusting contracts that are locking these guys in and it's sad um and I so in that sense I do feel like there I might have to step in and play a role um if I'm able to because if I can help Fighters I would love to but right now my goal is obviously to become world champion and right now you're leading by example anyway so people can listen to interviews and see what you're doing and maybe emulate that but I want to talk about the last time I saw you in the Octagon that was in Abu Dhabi when you fought against Peter Yan you know in the lead up to that when he was the former champ he had a lot of support in Abu Dhabi did your mindset change at all was anything different for you as you headed into what ultimately turned out to be probably the biggest fight of your UFC career thus far um what was the question exactly was your mindset any different did it feel different for you going into the fight yeah no I felt I felt very confident in in that fight I know how good Peter Yan is but uh you know at the end of the day he was you know he's a really good kickbox a boxer he has he had very sneaky kicks he had had a fast beautiful body kick um that he landed quite a bit and Andy you know I learned a lot from that fight specifically because I did not plan on him wrestling I should have you know I plan I did a i grappled year round we're grappling all the time but my sparring partners were specifically more kickboxing oriented um without as many takedowns obviously this fight with aljo vice versa ton of wrestling but in that fight I was not planning on him wrestling so my timing to the takedowns weren't like they will be against aljo with aljo my timing you know you go back and watch that Al Joe goes back and watched that his team goes back and watched that and they you know they may think okay this and we're gonna take it down easy that's where I that's where I messed up I was not my timing to the takedowns weren't as good as they should have been because I was kickboxing sparring too much so I did learn a ton in that fight that I have to prepare I should have known I'm gonna turn this dude into a wrestler um I don't think his game plan was to come out there and wrestle I think his game plan was to come out there and he thought he was going to be able to piece me up it was vice versa I you know I look at his face at the end of the fight look at mine I was I had a beautiful cut on him gotta still got the scar on my knee from Peter's face I'll treasure that one forever but uh yeah so I learned a lot from that fight but as far as my mindset going into that fight very confident um and my abilities very confident in that fight um I thought I was gonna be able to put his lights out in the second round I did drop him I don't think anyone else has dropped him in the UFC I dropped rocked him boom dropped him to a knee um and then him just being as good as he is and as tough as he is rocked me back he grabbed me took me down but uh that fight is very exciting I do love watching that fight back very very close fight um first round was the controversial one second one you can give it to Peter third round you can give it to me first round was very up in the air um and I don't you know people are like well I thought he locked I thought he lost I thought I don't care at all what anyone thinks about that fight you know the judge gave me the fight that's that on to the next did you know after that win that you would wait for an opportunity for the title or were there other plans um he was like Hey do you care if we have Henry step in there I was like no not at all I'm gonna go you know aljo I know how good aljo is he's very very good there's a reason he's been the champ as long as he's been you're going to give me extra months to go out there and keep wrestling keep keep learning keep learning how to you know the fundamentals and learn how to wrestle learn how to wrestle defensively keep learning jiu jitsu I'll take that extra time I know how good he is um so yeah I was I was completely fine with that let Henry take over if Henry were to win sweet I'll you know fight Henry if I was where to win let's do it I'm ready you know I spoke to you after the AL Joe and Henry fight and you told me you thought that Henry had won it yeah have you watched that back often and I mean what do you take away from it now I rewatched it um Tim and I rewatched it live Tim and I both thought Henry won re-watching and I do see how alja won that was a very it was a close fight I do think algebra won the fight after re-watching um aljo did what he needed to do to win that fight very impressed by Henry though being 36 coming off a couple year layoff um you know it was impressive Henry did a good job um it just goes to show you how good alja was in his prime right now I think he's 32 33 years old every UFC champion that's a male is in their 30s he is in his prime right now um just be a double champ before that beat TJ Dillashaw who is considered one of the best bantamweights of all time allergyman Sterling's in his prime right now and for me the sugar show to go out there and take him out August 19th where does that put me the greatest bandwid of all time that seems to excite you a little bit because when you're talking about it you have a lot to say I mean for you is this the greatest challenge you could have to become champion absolutely I think algeman is the toughest fight in the division right now which makes sense that's where the champion is supposed to be I do think algemane you know is the best guy in the division and he's proved of that time and time again and uh so yeah 100 this is the toughest fight to win the belt um but that gives me that some extra fire extra juice you know going into these training sessions we talk about him a lot in terms of his grappling but you had mentioned that a stand-up is weird and it's kind of funky and that's what can throw people off I mean how do you prepare for a guy like that on the feet yeah it's very funky but it's effective it's not I don't think algeman sucks at striking right if he sucked at striking he would have been knocked out at least twice I only got knocked out once um so yeah I think uh you know it's effective it's it's odd it's awkward it's you know it's probably better for him to be like that than be super super technical I tend to piece those guys up I think Peter was very technical and I think I got the better of Peter in those in those exchanges so that awkwardness I would say will benefit him until it doesn't until he leaves too many openings because I do find people's chins you go look at my career every round I there's very few fights I haven't I didn't drop someone Terry on where I didn't drop him Andre's Soccer Mom dropped him in the first round Eddie weinland dropped him in the first round Jose Camino dropped him um didn't drop Cheeto until the second round just jokes uh Cheeto fight whatever um Thomas I made it dropped him in the first dropped him in the third Chris montino dropped him in the first I find people's chins and uh I was just cutting a lot of weight he always does it's not this fight specifically like oh he's got to cut a lot of weight he just does that's what he does he cuts a lot of weight he's very strong he's very physical and he he leans on that I know people that cut a lot of weight it loses they lose that that liquid in their brain I do think that's why Chris maintenio was so tough he was he was a 25er coming up I did I did drop him in the first place that dude took so many punches I would almost bet my life that aljo could not take that punishment with the weight cuts that he does um so I do think that will play a role in this fight him having to cut a lot of weight and uh you know I will find his chin does that ability to find his chin benefit you for the fact that it's also scheduled for five rounds um very interesting question I also have never fought five rounds so this is a very new thing for me too even even training camp it's you know I'm sparring a lot further out for this fight specifically for that reason um it's crazy you know you're usually in shape for three hard rounds you know a couple weeks out from the fight and you Peak that day I'm in shape right now for three round fight so I have you know whatever four more weeks left to to kind of continue to improve in that cardio be ready for five rounds so it's it'll be interesting I'm excited for the challenge of five rounds I'm excited for the challenge that alja presents in being as good of a Grappler as he is you know besides the sparring has there been any difference in your preparation four or five rounds in a potential 25 minutes as opposed to the 15. yeah I mean the amount of Sprint you do in a three round fight you add you add more for a five round a five round fight the amount of Mitch you hit extra rounds just everything is a little bit extra and I I said I specifically have not fought five rounds because I wanted to be paid a certain amount two five five to fight five rounds so people like you've never I mean you're not a star we've never headlined I could headline a show you know my third I could headline a show a long time ago I didn't care to I didn't want to fight five rounds I that's a long time extra that's almost a whole nother fight I mean it is only two rounds but my math that's damn near that's too that's you're fighting twice in one night uh again I didn't do good in high school so it makes sense but but yeah so you know I'm getting I'm getting paid I'm actually going to sign a new contract probably after I I forgot to sign it to my email after this so I'm happy I'm I'm accepting five round fights now and this one for the title but we again we mentioned is grappling everyone wants to talk about the wrestling matchup but maybe they don't talk enough about how much work you've put in for the last five or so years into your Jiu Jitsu and your ground game I mean for you are you is there any part of you that's looking forward to showing you what you can do on the canvas no I want to keep the fight standing and not come out like I want to with everybody um you know I I think that'll be that that's what people want to see if I could go out there he gets in deep on a couple shots I get up he takes me now I get up or I stuff his shot um and I and I get to show people that and they you know the people that are excited to see that they get to see that um but ideally he goes I go out there stuff stuff is shots take his chin off in Boston stand there celebrate and we have a good night that's that's what I want what do you think about him saying this is too soon he's had injuries and he would have preferred this to be pushed back later yeah I find it funny because like a couple days before he was he was acting like he's like you don't run the show I'm the champ I gotta say I'm like all right Google I'm not acting like I run the show I just they said August 19th and I said okay like I'm not acting like I run the show but we're fighting August 19th and uh so you know Dana wants a big fight in Boston who else are you going to bring you know other than Conor to Boston and that's going to excite the people that are going to get him excited I am 68.8 percent Irish according to my 23andMe so you got to bring Sean O'Malley to Boston um as far as him saying it's too soon too many injuries you know he said that against Henry he looked good against Henry he won to me I feel like it's a little bit of a mind game he's playing for himself like no you're he's saying that out loud for people to hear so when I go out there and punch him in the chin and he falls over yeah my bicep was killing me that night so I think it's a little bit of you know it could be Mind Games he could be trying to play with me like oh I'm gonna say this a shot doesn't take me to Syria you know who really knows I very I very rarely believe anything anyone says except for the Bible just kidding um I very rarely believe anything that I see that I read and and that I hear so whether he's dealing with injuries or not you know if there's injuries were as bad as he says they were leading into the Henry fight I believe they fought for 25 minutes a very tough fight something would have you know would have hurt something would have blew out um so I don't take that too much into consideration I'm gonna go out there and train the way I need to train and do what I need to do you guys had a Face-Off in Newark that kind of went viral yeah looking back on it I mean what are your thoughts on what you saw from algeman and then the other Antics that happened in the Octagon that night you can't tell me marab does not look like a coat guy that you walk in to a hotel or wherever and you can't close your eyes and see someone that looks exactly like marab five five kind of jacked weird nose ugly weird hairline and say this is not a coat guy so I thought when I was on the cage I'm like oh sweet UFC new I was gonna take my shirt off here's my coat and I it was marab I had no idea and then he puts my coat on and I'm already fired up in the Octagon every time I've ever been in there I've gotten a fight so so you kind of some switches I didn't I don't want to get a fight I want to fight aljo there I don't want you know you just want to I want to build a fight you know but you get into a certain mode you know and then looking back they didn't let my coach in there Tim so now it's me with his whole team in there and murabb saying some stuff aljo's saying some stuff so it was it was a little chaotic I do think what I took away from that was you know Al Joe's alja's very he's jacked but he's not as big as I thought which doesn't matter what matters is how you feel how your strength when you get a hold of someone um but I've never been face to face with him you know with his shirt off with my shirt off as in we're in a fight so I I would take that away he wasn't as intimidating as in effect like as big as I thought he was or else big he looks on camera um yeah that's that's pretty much what I took away from that you mentioned they didn't let Tim in there and we've talked about him a little bit throughout this interview but I'm curious what you reflect upon when you think of the journey you have been on with Tim from the beginning up until this point where you are challenging for the world title yeah there's few people in this world that that um that can change your life and you wouldn't be in certain places without meeting them if I never met Tim I we didn't grow up together we were from Montana he's from Great Falls I'm from Helena I never met him until after he was on Bellator TV show which I thought was crazy I'm sitting in my basement watching MTV Bella tour fightmaster Tim Welch from Great Falls and that's I remember that was like in spy I was like whole if I saw you on TV I was like they're famous like he made it um so randomly he was there at a fight in Great Falls his hometown commentating and after the fight I arm barred knew very little Jujitsu at the time I knew an arm bar off my back and I was fighting this college wrestler a very good wrestler at Tim new Tim didn't know me yet but he knew this wrestler and he's like oh and he Tim has heard of me because I was kind of making noise in that scene uh he Tim's like oh this guy's gonna probably smoke Sean the dude takes me out I break his elbow or pop his armbar him he tapped and uh Tim was like what the hell this kid I think that was that was insane so after the fight he invited me said hey if you want to take this seriously you're more than welcome to come and train in Phoenix I was like hell yeah I called him the next day he's like whoa chill like I'm not even home yet um but so yeah he gave me that opportunity to come to train in Phoenix and it completely changed my life so just that alone changed my life I I wanted to I was like I'm gonna go to California and train because I'd for whatever reason I thought that would be a good idea um but I had no actual plan so that that gave me a direction I'm gonna move to Phoenix I'm gonna I'm gonna live this lifestyle Tim's trying to get into UFC so you know I'm gonna surround myself with those people and uh yeah we moved into an apartment together shortly after and uh he he kind of once he's he would still fight but every time I had a fight coming around he would start to coach he would start to hold pads he would start to you know kind of switch into this coach role which he's always been good at um but it's pretty crazy looking back now to where he is he you know he owns his own gym and he's my full-time coach it's it's really cool but yeah he uh without Tim well if I never met Tim I'd like to think I could have still potentially made it some way somehow but I don't know if that's necessarily true what will it mean for you to be able to hand him the belt after you win it yeah it would be cool Tim would be like yeah it'll be cool I don't really care I think he thinks I mean he's not it'll be cool but it's back to real life back to normal life you know next the next week after fighting like he's gonna go back coach coaches students as Jim and you know we're back to regular life I think we're pretty both pretty good at you know coming back to regular life hopefully I mean I go out there and knock out you out you might see Conor McGregor 2.0 I might be running around punching people no I'm kidding uh but yeah Tim I mean it'll be cool it'll be really cool hand you know him holding the Bell us and the Octagon together um flying home on a jet sipping some some happy dads it'll be a great time but but back to work I do feel like I'm just getting started so we still have a lot of work to do maybe people watching this don't equate Sean O'Malley with a normal life is that ever difficult um I feel like well I've I've been living this lifestyle this trained twice a day ever since I moved to Phoenix when I was 18 19 years old I'm 28 now so my life is very normal in a sense that it's normal to me I go train in the morning go home and recover take a nap eat go back and train again in the afternoon so that's very normal to me you know I still uh go do my own shopping girl grab my groceries um life seems pretty normal still at this point uh but will it in in three four five years it might get a little crazy and I've been preparing for that and it's it'll be normal at that time too how do you also deal with the haters that come with such a high level of Fame do I have any I don't know Utah I don't think I have I think every single person watching this loves me perfect I don't know I did I've never met a hater I didn't know they existed they might not I mean I just thought maybe on the internet I feel like I've dealt with it it's in a slow gradual build I've been saying this I've been saying this for a long time when I was 2-0 in the UFC and people hated it I'm I'm the next Conor I'm gonna be massive I'm gonna fight for the belt and you know I got a lot of hate people who love to hate confident people you know you see you see people that are confident like hey I'm gonna do this and they're like haha yeah right they like to laugh at you like those all those people are miserable people none of those people are doing sweet in their own life so they're gonna hate on someone that is actually is confident and wants to do sweet so I've been dealing with it since since I got in the UFC since I've been on the contender series saying that I'm going to be the next Conor that I'm going to be a massive superstar that I'm going to be a pay-per-view King I've been dealing with it for since I got in UFC it doesn't bother me at all um I'm rich and that helps not let you let it bother you it's like I'm well I'm I'm chilling so it how how was it I don't it's a weakness if it bothered me it'd be a weakness on my part and there'd be half to something I have to deal with but um it doesn't bother me at all anymore you also have a beautiful family at home your wife and your daughter they were just here a couple of minutes ago for you how much does that also help when you have tough days at the office or things are going crazy in the MMA space or the fight world yeah that is huge like being able to I mean having a great day coming home to Elaine having a bad day coming home to Elena like Daddy you come home to see me like oh my God it is I look forward to it so much every time I'm driving home knowing they're at home if I'm getting home and they're already home like I get so excited to go see Elena and Danny it's I mean it's it's weird with your princess it's like it's like uh fallen in love for the first time although every time and and they're growing so she's two and a half so each like each week she's almost like different she's getting taller and she's saying more words so it's like it's like a different person um it's uh it makes this sport which is very very difficult you know you got training you're sore you got to get up and do it again it makes it a lot better um but yeah without again another person who I can completely say like like Tim wouldn't I wouldn't be in the position I'm in right now is Danny I'm at Danny shortly after I got to Arizona and uh you know chasing chicks is a real thing and I'm very lucky to have Danny to where I'm not out every weekend like chasing that that that that thrill of chasing chicks every guy will you know whether they believe it or whether whether they want to admit it or not that's a very dangerous game um and uh so yeah having Danny and Elena it grounds me uh keeps me very disciplined and on the right track will you have Elena go to the fight it'll be I mean it's going to be East Coast it will be very very late there she will be passed out with her grandma who is will be in Boston so they'll be at the hotel or Airbnb wherever um they choose to stay asleep but they will be in Boston what are your siblings think about your career especially considering what you said at such a young age about the sport and and just the popularity that you have as well yeah it's funny my older brother you know he was he always apologizes because I would tell him like I'm gonna be famous I'm Gonna Be Rich I'm going to see I'm gonna and he always kind of he would do he would like degrade it or make me want he would want to make me feel a certain way that that wasn't very possible and he always apologized I'm so glad you didn't listen to me I'm so sorry I'm like it's okay like I had a certain self-belief there it didn't matter who told me that um so yeah it's pretty weird to those guys that and then and then my little brother I would always tell him the same thing and he was always kind of like shut up like what do you I thought it was me in the NFL for for a while and then I realized and that ain't that ain't happening um so yeah I would always always tell these guys that I'm gonna then once I started fighting I would always tell them in the UFC I don't really know what they I mean it would be interesting to get their their opinion of it like what do you what'd you guys think about that um they were probably either annoyed that I would always say it because I would bring it up a lot I remember telling Daniel back I'm gonna be richer than you someday he's like dude I'm gonna be a doctor or a lawyer or something cause he's very smart very good at school and it's funny looking at now but we have such a good relationship I moved all of them down to Phoenix they all live very close to me um and uh yeah so it's it's really cool to be able to experience this with them do they have as colorful personality is as you um my little brother's completely opposite of me very very chill like uh I'm like dude you gotta get your testosterone levels check you're too chill this dude's like chilling chilling um and then my sister is very entrepreneur-like she loves to make money as do I she she got her realtor license very fast I bought three houses from her within a year my mom just recently bought a house from her so so she's chilling she's making some good money she does a lot of odd jobs too very she's she's pretty similar to me in that sense she'll work she'll hustle she'll make money um and then my older brother battled addiction for like 10 plus years alcohol meth very dirt Dark Places been a jail a bunch DUIs very very rock bottom and then he dug a little bit deeper a few times for him to be out here um sober with his son and uh you know I know I gave him that opportunity because a lot of addiction it's a big part of that is changing your environment in in Montana it's you know can it's a it's a hell hole it can suck you in so to give them the opportunity to be able to come out here and and work is uh very it's been awesome just to be to have the support of The Sibling during such a difficult time I mean the Journey of sobriety isn't easy so to have the support of his family is beautiful thing yeah absolutely and I know we weren't really all that close like they were all living in Montana I was the only one in Arizona for like seven eight years so they were all doing their own thing and then uh you know I got to a point you know to where I was able to help them you know my mom and brother are living in one of my houses my sisters I'm buying houses so she's you know making money my little brother's doing his own thing he's going back to school and uh so yeah it's cool that we're all this close now because I don't think if I was I was in the UFC and I fought and I was doing what I'm doing I don't know if we would all be as close as we are you've done so much for them if and when you become the champion what will be your first purchase for you um well I just bought a farm a couple weeks ago so it's like I just kind of spent a big just got paid a lot of money for that uh that was a big purchase um I don't know it's uh it you know it depends you know when when I'll buy a Ferrari lose I'll probably buy a Ferrari no I don't know I haven't really thought about it too much um I just I do start liking I I find myself liking wanting to buy more materialistic stuff when I get into fight mode when I do start to feel like sugar I start to kind of involve into this this character into this person into this Persona of I'm like Suga that's kind of where I want to start buying you know a Ferrari or some more sexy things or maybe rent some stuff like aljo did algae got straight up caught when he said day in the bottom that that Lambo and then the person that you rented it from posted a picture it said Champs rent for Champs that was embarrassing but uh yeah we'll see we'll see what uh we'll see how I'm feeling um you know I I do think buying houses in real estate is a very obvious good investment um I've been very good with my money since since day one I've I've never really struggled with that and I give that credit to my mom because she's very very good with her money and to a to almost an extreme very stingy with her money but I've learned a lot from her and I was able to always since day one take care of my money and do a good job with that so as far as what I'll buy um we'll have to wait and find out what made you want to buy a farm well I had I had gotten six chickens um and I have a nice property right now it's like one eight 1.4 acres so it's but it's not Farmland at all it's like uh it's like a resort kind of land it's it's not like a farm at all and uh funny enough Tim and I were in in uh New Jersey when Henry and alja were fighting it was Friday night he's like dude look at this house because he was on Zillow he was looking for a house it was it was a beautiful house had a perfect amount of Acres a huge massive trees in in a city that's kind of not far but it's close still to everything and it was like okay people already kind of found out where I lived right now it's not a safe it's not you know Danny doesn't necessarily love being there when I leave but this house it'll be a nice fresh start and uh it's out of the way for a little bit and and you know I do there's something about having the chickens that I I find peace in you know raising them they haven't started giving eggs yet but just they're constantly eating just the best food organic food and I juice these veggies and get the the fiber from it the veggies and I feed it to them and I'm you know it's fun I enjoy it I was the farthest thing away from a farmer um growing up even being from Montana I was like ew cow gross now I got a cow uh uh 15 chickens and you know I would like to get some ducks and some goats and but I'm very sporadic or a spontaneous who knows I could like I say for me in three years and and end up moving but I don't know I've been finding a lot of Peace in it and I've been enjoying that uh that farm life so far multifaceted multi-millionaire and there you go before I let you go you talked about this Persona or starting to feel more like sugar what does that look like for you on fight week is there a total evolution in the mind is it something you consciously go out and choose is it something that subconsciously takes over um ideally you know subconsciously can take over but I think some Fighters deal with letting go and letting their higher self take over more specific to fight night they kind of battle with wanting to flow get into that zone I do feel like that's where I'm one of the best in the world at surrendering to surrendering to my higher self and letting that ability to take over and and the work has been put in now it's time to to go out there and shine and do what I need to do so but as far as fight week I do think it's like it's a transition from Camp to fight week to fight night where I slowly start transvest transitioning into that um just that that higher human and you thrive under the bright lights so August 19th UFC 292 in Boston what happens in our main event how did that fight play out I guess we'll have to wait tune in and find out but I do believe at the end of the day the sugar show and new defeats Al Jermaine Sterling one way or the other um and and the sugar era starts O'Malley in Boston that's going to be a big one good luck to you we will see you there thank you so much for your time thank you appreciate it

Channel: UFC

Views: 275,391

Keywords: ufc, mma, ultimate fighting championship, Aljamain Sterling, Sean O'Malley, Suga Sean, Megan Olivi, Dana White, UFC 292, Bantamweight, Title Fight, Championship, Belt, Contender, Knockout, Boston, Massachusettes, Crowd, Stardom, Interview, Suga, Champion, full, sit, down, interview, question, answer, main, event, card, title, belt, champion, champ, division, opponent, matchup, bantamweight, august 19, 2023, saturday

Id: iMjQ1aNf8Rg

Length: 49min 13sec (2953 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 15 2023