Sean O’Malley fails to become ‘the next Conor McGregor’ with deflating title loss at UFC 306

Sean O’Malley predicted he would become “as big as Conor McGregor” by the end of 2024.

Not happening.

O’Malley coughed up his bantamweight title to Merab Dvalishvili after a five-round drubbing atop the UFC 306 pay-per-view (PPV) event last Sat. night (Sept. 14) at The Sphere in Las Vegas. In the process, “The Machine” avenged the loss of his longtime friend and training partner, Aljamain Sterling, who was stopped by “Suga” at UFC 292 last summer in Boston.

Not bad for a guy UFC CEO Dana White insisted was “next-level stupid.”

“From sugar to sh*t!” former bantamweight champion, Henry Cejudo, wrote on Twitter. “Hey O’Methyl, you wanted to be the next Conor McGregor — well now you are. Neither of you bums can defend a takedown. I’m teaching ‘Wrestling for Cokeheads’ at 8 AM. See you in the morning.”

O’Malley believed his activity, competing eight times over the last four years, was one of many reasons why he was poised to dethrone McGregor as the top star in mixed martial arts (MMA). Unfortunately, “Suga” does not have the charisma or gift of gab that helped put “Notorious” on the same level as Muhammad Ali (according to this guy).

McGregor also headlined eight of the Top 10 highest grossing PPV cards in UFC history.

Fortunately for O’Malley (18-2, 1 NC), he’s still just 29 years old and will undoubtedly use this outcome to improve. In addition, his loss to Dvalishvili is only the second time “Suga” has been defeated in his professional career. There’s already talk on social media of pairing the former champ against No. 4-ranked Cory Sandhagen at some point in early 2025.

O’Malley left UFC 306 without speaking to the media, so we’ll have to wait for his reaction.

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For complete UFC 306 results, coverage, and highlights, click HERE.