The first time we all heard, “welcome to the sugar show”, we had to know who this new talent was. Before ever getting to his technique, the first thing you notice is O’Malley’s swag. He has more than your typical American fighter, but he does kind of look like a schoolboy. Really, he looks like someone who gets bullied even with the tattoos. His footwork is on point, the aggression is there and his fights are just exciting.
A post shared by Sugar Sean O'Malley (@sugaseanmma) on Mar 3, 2020 at 3:21pm PST
Sean O’Malley is inching his way back from some hard times right now. During his last fight in 2018 he injured his foot. A few months later, a doctor repaired it. Ligament tears always take forever to heal, but O’Malley did everything right to get healthy. He quickly went into surgery, and we all thought he would get on with the show. We were mistaken.
Six months later O’Malley failed a drug test and announced it to his fans. Usually fight fans jump into hysteria when someone fails a drug test. However, with the amount of overturned cases, and the sensitivity of those tests, it always takes due diligence to determine if someone cheated on purpose. Commonly the court of public opinion goes something like this.
A post shared by Will Giffard (@will.giffard) on Jan 22, 2020 at 8:28am PST
A fighter fails a test, the MMA community reacts, and then decides whether or not they like said fighter. If the results show low concentrations or there is any reasonable doubt, the MMA community lets it slide, like Masvidal vs Diaz. Fans like Masvidal, fans like Diaz, so there must have been a mistake. The popular of a fighter changes the nature of the response. The MMA community crucifies recidivists and villains on the altar of “accountability”. Fans will proceed to harass said fighter on any and all posts with comments like, “drug cheat”, accompanied by several leaking needle emoticons. We all know who they are, let us move on.
Unfortunately, O’Malley failed another drug test in August 2019. Those concentrations were low and within range of one another, so USADA suspended him six months. Now he has returned to entertain us all. Lucky for him he does not have a physique that people are jealous of, or a dark past anyone is aware of. This way, we can all let it slide. Hopefully he has been training the entire time. On Saturday, it is business as usual as he takes on Jose Quinonez. Jose is a solid vet with a good UFC record. He does not fight very consistently, so this is probably the best matchup the UFC could find for O’Malley coming off of a two-year layoff.
O’Malley is probably a few wins from even being ranked, but you never know. The rankings commonly seem to be cobbled together with haste.
A post shared by Sugar Sean O'Malley (@sugaseanmma) on Feb 13, 2020 at 4:32pm PST
Despite its delays, the sugar show is one of the best in town. Matchups with prospects are always compelling. O’Malley is not exactly a hype train, but he is a young talent. The UFC are getting behind him which is good. In January, Maycee Barber lost and suffered a slight setback. On Saturday we might see O’Malley lose. The UFC constantly gambles with these young talents to see who is ready to take over. Sean O’Malley might be a rare one that just keeps stacking wins all the way to a title. He could easily be the feature bout instead of Dariush and Klose. None of them are ranked anyway, so there would be no harm done.
More than anything else, hopefully Sean O’Malley and Joe Quinonez set a violent tone right before the pay per view and the fans get a treat before the two title bouts.■
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