Sean O’Malley has voiced his frustration at the UFC’s Sean Shelby after claiming that the matchmaker was angry at him for turning down a fight in New York later this year.
“I don’t even know if I’m supposed to say this,” O’Malley stated on his podcast. “I was talking to my manager and he was talking to Sean Shelby and Sean Shelby was mad at me.
“Dude, I don’t wanna fight in New York. It’s far, the taxes are ridiculous, and Tim (Welch) has no-Gi ADCC trials that weekend. He told me that before I even potentially had a fight. So, that’s his thing and I’m not gonna say, ‘No. I have a fight, we’re doing it.’ Especially when I could fight like a month later in Vegas. And Sean Shelby was just like, mad and like, ‘Fine. Go hang out with 6ix9ine’. Just acting like a f*cking tool, dude. I don’t know if I should’ve said that or not. But it’s like, dude, come on. What are you doing?”
It’s a ballsy move to call out a major player in the UFC like Shelby in this fashion. O’Malley is a rising star in the UFC after winning six of his seven fights in the promotion to date, with many coming in a spectacular fashion, but nontheless, despite his outburst ‘Sugar’ Sean is aware that he’s far from indispensable to the company at this stage in his career.
“They don’t need me,” O’Malley acknowledged. “The UFC would be 100 percent fine without me. If they want another huge, giant star, I could fill that role for sure, but they don’t need me. But don’t treat me like that. Like, act like I’m not training or nothing. ‘Go, you’re hanging out with 6ix9ine, dude’. Like, I’m hung out with him once. Well, three days. But yeah, so, it’s like, cool, dude. Treat me like a piece of sh*t.
“No, it’s like, dude, I would rather not deal with him at all and just deal with Dana.”
However, it seems like it’s not just the spat over the reaction to having turning down the NYC fight that’s bothering O’Malley, as he also went on to discuss his annoyance at the fact he’s not currently getting paid what he feels he’s worth.
“‘I know you’re gonna be asking for a lot of money.’ No sh*t! I’m pulling f*cking numbers, you can’t deny that,” O’Malley said. “Why do they have a problem paying someone what they’re worth? That shouldn’t be an issue. That should be, like – especially when I’m blowing up like that. Those last two fights, third-round finishes, handing out brain damage. You should be like, ‘Hell yeah, I’m gonna pay you a lot. You earned it.’ Dude, I was UFC 264.”
