THE SUGA SHOW
Meet Sean O’Malley, the KO-loving UFC champ set to replace Conor McGregor as MMA’s biggest star
The UFC's bantamweight champion lives an unusual lifestyle
SEAN O'Malley is the heir to Conor McGregor's throne as the biggest star in the UFC.
And he'll look to continue his rise to superstar status this weekend in the main event of UFC 299 in Miami in a rematch with Marlon Vera.
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O'Malley became the king of the bantamweights last August with a stunning second-round knockout of dominant champion Aljamain Sterling.
Just minutes after O'Malley stopped Sterling, the UFC broke their long-established protocol by uploading the full fight to their YouTube channel.
The video, which has received 10 million views, was watched by 1.7 million people in just under six hours - a testament to the 29-year-old's star power.
Fan favourite O'Malley - a proud father of one - has all the makings of a star.
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He's got the looks, the mystique, the fashion sense, and the social media prowess.
But, most importantly, he's got the ability to produce incredible and viral moments inside the cage.
If you weren't to know who O'Malley was, you'd automatically assume he's another brash fighter who lives a wild lifestyle and likes to unnecessarily splash the cash.
O'Malley does like to treat himself and has a fleet of swanky cars, although he lives a life of solitude on his Arizona farm with his wife Danya Gonzalez and their daughter Elena.
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His marriage with Danya, however, is far from conventional as they have an open relationship.
Opening up on their marriage during an appearance on The Full Send podcast, he said, “Everyone’s definition of an open relationship is different.
UFC champ Sean O'Malley smokes a joint hours after brutal KO of Aljamain Sterling
"I like to think of ours as just an open-minded relationship where we don’t own each other.
"I don’t own her, and she doesn’t own me.
"When I first met Danya, I told her, ‘I don’t know why anyone would f**k the same chick for the rest of their life.'
"'I can’t do that.’ So she knew she wasn’t in love with a phoney me."
O'Malley admits the openness of his relationship with Danya has led to some hot and heavy threesomes.
"We’ve had some dope threesomes," he admitted. "Every relationship should be OK with it, that just needs to happen.”
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Manogomy may not be O'Malley's thing, but fully admits that he'd be lost without Danya.
He added, "I don't like how relationships are nowadays, it's like 'I own you, you own them', I don't want to be in that kind of relationship.
"I love Dayna, we've been together pretty much my entire career.
"She's known me since before I made money, we've got a really cool relationship.
"She's the f**king best, if I lost her I'd be f**king screwed."
O'Malley's first defence of the bantamweight throne will see him bid to avenge the first-round TKO loss he suffered to Ecuadorian Vera nearly four years ago.
Suga blamed the sole loss of his career on the drop foot he suffered after one of Vera's leg kicks hit the pineal nerve on his right leg.
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And he's vowed to exact his revenge in brutal fashion, telling MMA Fighting, “He’s (Vera) kinda peaked – I’m better than this dude
“I’m going to go out there and do what I was about to do to him [back in 2020], and put his lights out.
"He’s good, he’s tough, he’s very durable, but that doesn’t get the job done against me.
"You can’t just be tough, you can’t just be durable.
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"I believe I’m more skilled, faster, more accurate.
"And I’m going to go out there and I just feel confident standing in front of him.”
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