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via Imago

via Imago

Sean O’Malley has a tough year ahead of him. ‘Suga’ is gearing up to defend his bantamweight title for the first time against Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera at UFC 299 on March 9 at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida. After which he would most likely fight the winner of the much-awaited fight between former concurrent two-division champion and Olympic gold medalist Henry Cejudo take on #2 ranked Merab Dvalishvili.

The bantamweight champion has his eyes set on being the biggest star in the promotion by the end of 2024, however, that has not made him take his eye off the ball in his other job: being a broadcaster and MMA analyst. With UFC 300 being around the corner and Dana White starting to announce fights for the anniversary card, O’Malley discussed possible fights for the card on episode 1 of the ‘BroMalley Show’ with his brother Daniel on YouTube.

Sean O’Malley wants Brock Lesnar on UFC 300

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Sean O’Malley and his brother Daniel O’Malley speculated which fight could headline UFC 300. The UFC puts on mega-cards for its anniversary cards as it has done for UFC 100 and UFC 200, with the biggest names in the combat sports world fighting on them. And with the promotion being bigger than it ever was, UFC 300 is expected to be another extravaganza.

Sean jokingly suggested the now-dead mega-fight between tech titans Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg could headline the event. His brother felt that while the yet-unannounced but widely expected Leon Edwards vs. Belal Muhammad for the welterweight title would be an excellent co-main event, he wasn’t sure it was enough of a draw to be the main event for UFC 300.

“No I mean realistically you think we’re probably going to get Leon versus Belal, but to me that doesn’t scream UFC 300. I mean it it’d be a sweet co-main,” Daniel said.

‘Suga’ however speculated that Edwards-Belal may not be that important to the UFC and the promotion may decide to move it to a card preceding or succeeding UFC 300. “I wonder if UFC is like ‘we don’t really care, this could be a UFC 298, 299, 301, 302 [fight],’ it could be just, they might say ‘f**k it’,” he said.

Sean felt the card needed a major name who had mainstream or cross-sport popularity such as Brock Lesnar (who has fought on both, UFC 100 and UFC 200), Ronda Rousey, and even suggested WWE stars CM Punk vs. Logan Paul. “Like what if Brock Lesnar comes back, like we got to think outside the box. Ronda Rousey, maybe Brock would be crazy…uh CM Punk versus Logan Paul,” he counted.

O’Malley thinks he could be as big as Conor McGregor by the end of 2024

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Many people have compared Sean O’Malley to Conor McGregor because of his flamboyance, marketability, and elite striking skills. And one of those people is ‘Suga’ himself, who sees McGregor as a template for how to make it to the top of the MMA business. However, the bantamweight champion has turned head and been accused of being delusional after he claimed that he may be as big a star in the UFC as Conor McGregor in a recent interview.

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“And then I would like to get another one in by the end of the year and be the biggest star in sports, not just combat sports. I think I go out there and put two beautiful performances together, I will be as big as Conor,” he said. He further added, “The UFC’s grown 40, 50% since Conor really was in his prime. That Covid really boosted the UFC, so I have a lot more eyeballs, a lot more opportunity to become, you know, more of a star”.

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What do you think about O’Malley’s claim?

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