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
“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.”
Just a couple weeks ago, O’Malley defeated Song Yadong via a tightly contested decision at UFC 324. The win puts O’Malley in good position in the 135-pound title mix, and “Suga” has previously stated that he’d like to sit around and see how Petr Yan vs. Merab Dvalishvili 3 plays out before he returns to action. That said, Umar Nurmagomedov is close to securing a second title shot, and the winner of Vinicius Oliveira vs. Mauricio Bautista could be considered in the mix as well.
Perhaps the anxiety explains why his retirement is imminent.
Human doesn’t want to rapidly lose weight and getting punched in the face. Riveting.
The weight cut is something that could easily be solved with smart regulations. Why don’t they do it is beyond me.
The anxiety before going to fight a trained killer in a cage in front of millions of poeple, well, that won’t go away.
I’ve only heard a couple of people explicitly say they don’t suffer from prefight nerves or anxiety - Matyushenko was one and the other was Paul Jenkins (I think). From what I’ve seen in person the difference is in how you manage it. I was really close to puking before my first bout, but as it turned out it was loads easier than our hard sparring sessions.
What I don’t think is talked about enough is the slump you can get in the days afterwards. I didn’t suffer from that myself, but a couple of my teammates did.
EDIT: Just to add, I fought in front of tens of people rather than millions. I’ve no idea how much difference that makes, but a teammate who fought in front of a much bigger crowd than me (CageWarriors) said he thought it was easier than fighting in a small hall because he couldn’t see individual faces.
Cool Post Psycho !
If he didn’t want to be so anxious all the time maybe he shouldn’t be blowing blunts.
Maybe try some yoga instead.
Thanks - you’re welcome.
I remembered this morning that we used to do a sort of mental training before our hard spars. After a pretty savage warm-up we would lie down on the floor with our eyes closed then visualise the crowd, the hall, etc. Then we’d narrow our focus gradually until all we were aware of was the opponent, the referee and our corner. Then we’d open our eyes, get up and beat the shit out of each other.
I always thought it was bullshit, to be honest. But years later when I was learning to freedive and visualisation was suggested, I used it for my first maximum breath-hold, and after the hold I was a bit startled when someone spoke - I’d forgotten there were other people in the room. So maybe there’s something in it after all, but I personally didn’t use it prior to fights.
Go get a regular job then fag
well to be fair, if Paul Jenkins is prepared to fight on a weekly basis and dance naked under the spotlight at a packed out event… I feel that’s relevant
Yeah, he was a bit different.
Given that you remember him and his antics, I wonder whether you and I have met. If nothing else, it appears we’ve been in the same place on the same night.
ha most likely.
were you at the Coventry sky dome for the riot?
Does he really let other guys fuck his Oaxacan Mexican baby momma
I’ve certainly been at a riot at a fight event, but I can’t remember where (I used to get hit in the head a lot…). Thinking about it I’ve actually been at two riots at fight events, so it seems likely.
One of them was definitely in Bracknell at one of the Millennium Brawl events. I think Lee Murray might have been involved - not sure, though, because that feels too early for him. I know Tengiz fought that night, and I think Chin Weakasinghe…maybe Mark Chen as well. I have a feeling that was also when Ian Freeman announced that the UFC was coming to the U.K.
I wonder they’re all doing nowadays.
Get paid a years salary while looking like a clown.
STRESFUL