According to coach Tim Welch, Sean
O’Malley is the type of fighter whose star power transcends
mere wins and losses.
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The
UFC put its marketing muscle behind “Suga” not long after he
appeared on
Dana White’s Contender Series, and that push propelled him to
the top of the bantamweight division. The promotion remained firmly
behind O’Malley even after he relinquished the 135-pound title to
Merab
Dvalishvili in a lopsided unanimous decision defeat at UFC 306,
granting the MMA Lab product an immediate rematch when he was ready
to return.
While O’Malley made some improvements, so did his opponent, and
Dvalishvili rolled to a third-round submission victory in their
second meeting at UFC 316
on June 7. Still, Welch believes O’Malley fits into a rare category
when it comes to mainstream appeal.
“Look at Nate Diaz, how
big of a star he is,” Welch said on his YouTube channel. “How many
losses does he have? Jorge
Masvidal, how many losses does he have? They’re still just
f—ing huge draws. Huge stars.”
Diaz received a considerable boost from a memorable rivalry with
Conor
McGregor, where the two fighters split a pair of matchups in
2016. Since then, the Stockton, Calif., native has been one of the
biggest names in combat sports — and a trilogy between Diaz and
McGregor remains a topic of conversation to this day.
Masvidal, meanwhile, was a long-respected veteran who raised his
profile thanks to a memorable 2019 campaign that included finishes
of Darren Till,
Ben
Askren and Diaz. Those efforts propelled him to back-to-back
welterweight title shots against Kamaru
Usman.
Whether O’Malley can follow a similar trajectory to Diaz or
Masvidal remains to be seen. Thus far, his signature win is a
second-round TKO of Aljamain
Sterling to claim bantamweight gold at UFC 292. He also owns
notable victories over Petr Yan and
Marlon
Vera.
Regardless of what the future holds, Welch said all signs are
pointing toward a relatively quick return to action for the former
champion.
“It’s so hard to say with him but again, right now we’re not going
to clubs, we’re not f—ing partying, we’re saying no to trips. So
what else are we going to do?” Welch said. “We’re coming to the gym
twice a day. We’re going to train. Might as well [fight]. Might as
well not let these years go by. He’s only 30 years old. Might as
well just knock them out. Let’s just keep knocking them out.”