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This past weekend at UFC 299, Sean O’Malley defended his bantamweight title in style by defeating old foe Marlon Vera over five rounds.
Sean O’Malley’s win over Marlon Vera has been labeled one of the UFC’s all-time best title defenses, but does ‘Sugar’ have what it takes to become the GOAT at 135 pounds?
Despite a public persona that appears to split the fanbase, the answer is yes – ‘Sugar’ definitely has the ability to become a legend of the octagon.
Here are five reasons why Sean O’Malley can become the UFC’s bantamweight GOAT.
#5. Sean O’Malley is still relatively young and appears to be willing to stay active
Okay, so it’s fair to say that Sean O’Malley’s rise to the top of the UFC hasn’t been quite as meteoric as some observers would suggest. After all, he won the bantamweight title in his sixth year with the promotion.
Despite this, ‘Sugar’ is still a relatively young fighter. He doesn’t turn 30 years old until late October, meaning that he’s probably just hitting his athletic prime, and judging by his recent fights, he’s still improving his overall skills.
To become the UFC’s bantamweight GOAT, O’Malley almost certainly needs to embark on a lengthy and dominant title reign. At his age, there’s no reason why he can’t do that.
More importantly, it seems like ‘Sugar’ is more than willing to remain a largely active champion. Since his 2017 debut, he’s stepped into the octagon on 12 occasions.
When you consider that he spent two years on the shelf due to a suspension, he’s essentially averaged three fights per year, only sitting out for periods when he’s been nursing injuries.
If he can continue on this trajectory, then there’s no reason why he can’t put together some rapid-fire title defenses. If he can do this without losing, he could definitely become the GOAT at 135 pounds.
#4. Sean O’Malley already has an outstanding MMA record
For many of the consensus GOATs in the UFC’s other weight classes, winning gold inside the octagon and defending it was almost the icing on the cake.
The likes of Anderson Silva and Alexander Volkanovski, for instance, already had stellar MMA records before they won their UFC titles, while Georges St-Pierre and Stipe Miocic had to beat a list of killers before claiming a title shot.
How does Sean O’Malley’s record stack up in this context, then? The answer is that it looks pretty good.
Sure, ‘Sugar’ was accused of hand-picking easier opponents in his early years with the promotion, but it’s hard to argue with some of his achievements.
At 18-1, he’s now avenged the only loss of his career to Marlon Vera. The dominant nature of his recent win over ‘Chito’ also adds credence to his own suggestion that the earlier loss was caused by an injury.
‘Sugar’ also holds a win over Aljamain Sterling, who is statistically the most dominant bantamweight in UFC history, and has also beaten a former UFC titleholder in Petr Yan and a former WEC titleholder in Eddie Wineland.
If he can add a couple more title defenses, then – beating Sterling’s record of three – it’d be hard to dispute O’Malley’s overall record, and equally hard to dispute his claim to being the bantamweight GOAT.
#3. Sean O’Malley has plenty of star power and the UFC believes in him
While every champion largely has their fate in their own hands, it’s probably true that it becomes much easier to find success if the UFC’s promotional vehicle is behind them.
In that sense, Sean O’Malley is almost definitely at least one or two steps ahead of most champions in UFC history, particularly at 135 pounds.
‘Sugar’ has been pegged as a potential star ever since his 2017 debut, and thanks to his flashy style and outspoken nature, he’s rarely failed to live up to the hype.
Whether O’Malley has enjoyed favourable treatment from Dana White and company, as some of his critics have suggested, is up for debate. However, it’s clear that the push that the UFC have given him as a superstar is now paying off.
According to White, UFC 299 drew in the biggest gate for a bantamweight bout in octagon history, positioning O’Malley as the division’s biggest-ever star.
Sure, star power doesn’t always translate to a fighter being the GOAT of their weight class, but with the UFC behind him, O’Malley definitely has a good chance of getting into that spot.
#2. Sean O’Malley matches well with the other top contenders at 135 pounds
If Sean O’Malley wants to become the GOAT at 135 pounds in the UFC, then he’s going to have to achieve something that no other bantamweight champion has done before, and that’s to properly clean out his division.
Right now, the bantamweight division is as deep as it’s ever been, with dangerous contenders everywhere you look.
O’Malley has already defeated former titleholders Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling, and last weekend, he turned back the challenge of Marlon Vera.
However, there are still fighters like Merab Dvalishvili, Cory Sandhagen and Umar Nurmagomedov looking for a shot at ‘Sugar’, and he’ll need to beat them to claim his status as GOAT.
Thankfully for the current champ, though, he actually matches up well with most of them thanks to a largely unique skillset.
O’Malley is probably the best striker in the division, as he proved by picking Vera apart last weekend. He possesses incredible power, brilliant reflexes and a tremendous grasp of range.
More than that, he’s tall for a 135-pound fighter and boasts a 72-inch reach, which puts him at an advantage against other strikers like Sandhagen and Yan.
There are some questions around ‘Sugar’ on the ground, as he hasn’t really had to fend off the takedowns of a grappler like Dvalishvili or Nurmagomedov yet.
However, he has been a regular entrant into high-level grappling tournaments during his periods away from the octagon, and possesses a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Augusto Mendes.
To add to this, O’Malley’s cardio seems phenomenal, meaning that if he could survive on the ground and get a fight with someone like Dvalishvili back to the feet, he’d have a huge advantage.
Overall, there’s no standout contender that looks like a horrible match for ‘Sugar’ right now, meaning he could be on his way to a dominant reign – allowing him to become the UFC’s bantamweight GOAT.
#1. There is no consensus UFC GOAT at bantamweight
One thing in Sean O’Malley’s favor when it comes to becoming the UFC’s bantamweight GOAT is that right now, there’s no other outstanding candidate for that title.
Since the 135-pound division was introduced to the UFC back in 2011, there have been 10 different titleholders, ignoring interim champions.
Dominick Cruz and TJ Dillashaw have both held the title twice, but both fighters only managed a record of two successful title defenses in a row before they lost their crown.
The record for the most title defenses in a row belongs to Aljamain Sterling, who got to three before O’Malley knocked him out last year.
The consensus GOAT at 135 pounds would probably be one of those three men, but each has their own flaws. Cruz spent literally years out with injuries, Dillashaw was busted for PED use, and Sterling won his title via disqualification.
O’Malley, on the other hand, has no such black marks hanging over his title reign at the current time. Simply beating Sterling’s number of successive title defenses would probably push him to the top of this list, largely thanks to the division’s fluid nature.
Sure, that fluid nature may mean that ‘Sugar’ loses his crown more quickly than many fans might anticipate.
However, if he can avoid such a loss, there’s nothing really holding Sean O’Malley back from achieving his destiny, and becoming the UFC’s bantamweight GOAT.
