Sean O’Malley is on the rise in the bantamweight class. Although he may be the next in line for a crack at the UFC championship, he also appreciates the training. O’Malley seems to be in control of his career and has several options.
O’Malley has great striking abilities, but he admits that training grappling is his favorite aspect of a camp. In his YouTube video, he revealed:
“I enjoy grappling dude, it’s my favorite sport hands down, 100 percent if I quit fighting today I would still grapple, still jiu-jitsu, still wrestle. I probably wouldn’t box. I would grapple, grappling is something I enjoy so I’m excited.”
O’Malley competed in grappling back in 2020 and got finished in under a minute.
“Sugar” Sean O’Malley is seen competing against brown belt (he has since been promoted to black belt) Robert Degle in the -155lbs Advanced division.
Degle is a black belt under Brandon Bennett of the Renzo Gracie Academy.
In the video we see Degle doing quick work of the UFC bantamweight.
In around 30 seconds, Degle is able to pull guard and instantly get beneath O’Malley’s base.
From there Robert gets the UFC fighter in a 50/50 position, and in a matter of seconds, he secures the heel hook submission victory.
This wasn’t the only time O’Malley competed in BJJ.
O’Malley has been training for a longtime under ADCC medalist/UFC vet Augusto Tanquinho Mendes in Arizona. He is rumored to be a huge fan of the competition class at his academy.
“One of our buddy’s, Allan (Di Lucia), is his coach and owns the (Unlimited BJJ) gym and he has free classes for special needs kids,” O’Malley explained. “So he messaged me on Instagram and asked me if I wanted to compete against him and I was jacked. He said it would make his day, and I told him it would make mine, so doing stuff like that is just priceless, that’s where pure happiness is.”