Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight
champ Sean
O’Malley has suggested that financial obstacles may be the
reason for Conor
McGregor’s absence.
Former two-division champ McGregor has been inactive since July
2021, when he suffered a broken leg in a trilogy match against
Dustin
Poirier. While he recently returned to the U.S. Anti-Doping
Agency’s (USADA) testing pool, “Notorious” has yet to be booked for
his return to the Octagon. McGregor
expressed his frustration on Saturday with the delay in his
return, and even teased another shift to boxing.
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O’Malley, on his podcast “TimboSugarShow”
on Monday, pontificated whether another McGregor fight makes
financial sense for the UFC. He suggested the kind of deal they
might have with the Irishman, Forbes’ highest-earning athlete in
2021, could be restrictive or detrimental for the UFC.
“You know what’s crazy is Conor is supposedly just begging for a
fight,” O’Malley remarked. “‘Give me a fight. Let me fight, daddy.’
Conor says his patience is wearing thin over UFC inactivity. I
wonder if he’s making so much money per fight that it’s really just
not that beneficial to the UFC, like they’re losing money when he
fights. I wonder if his deal is structured in a way where it’s
like, ‘f*ck.’”
While McGregor starred opposite Michael
Chandler as rival coaches on “The Ultimate Fighter” reality
show earlier this year, with an expected matchup in the future, the
Irishman has since called out multiple other opponents. On an
appearance at “Steve-O’s Wild Ride!
Podcast,” Chandler stated that the former double champ might
try to “wait him out” in an attempt to draw an “easier” opponent
like Nate
Diaz.
Meanwhile, O’Malley’s star power has also recently come into
question. The bantamweight champ’s last opponent, Aljamain
Sterling, claimed he was
unimpressed with the pay-per-view figures of their UFC 292 clash,
despite “Sugar” being touted as one of the biggest stars in the
sport today. Sterling will be moving up to 145 pounds to fight
Calvin
Kattar at UFC 300, while O’Malley is planning to defend his
throne against Marlon Vera
atop UFC 299 in March.