Sean O'Malley details initial struggles with grappling, says he would leave the gym crying

UFC contender Sean O'Malley made a big splash last weekend. ‘Sugar’ entered the octagon after UFC 288’s headline bout between bantamweight champ Aljamain Sterling edged out Henry Cejudo.

After their exchange, Sterling vs. O'Malley has quickly become one of the most talked-about future title fights in the promotion, and it’s likely that it’ll go down at some stage in late 2023.

If Sean O'Malley wants to beat Aljamain Sterling, it’s highly likely that he’ll have to go through some dangerous grappling sequences with the champion.

‘Sugar’ is a strong grappler in his own right, but a recent appearance on YouTube’s FLAGRANT talk show saw him discuss his early struggles in this area.

After discussing his origins in a Montana kickboxing gym, which he labelled “low-level”, he then went onto talk about his move to train with current coach Tim Welch in Arizona at an age of 18.

“I came down to Arizona...literally for 10 days, every time I left practice I was crying...when it came to wrestling, I didn’t know how to f*cking wrestle to save my life...kickboxing I would do okay, I would do alright, but when it came to like grappling days, I had zero chance. I would leave the gym f*cking crying like goddammit."

Since then, of course, O'Malley has come a long way with his grappling. Although he only holds one win in MMA via submission, he has been a regular competitor in grappling tournaments, facing the likes of Takanori Gomi, Hector Lombard and Gilbert Melendez.

Watch O’Malley grappling against Melendez below:

He also spoke about how tricky grappling is to learn in 2022. With Welch – his fellow host on the TimboSugarShow podcast – stating that even after two years of training, “you’re just scratching the surface”.

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Sean O'Malley vs. Aljamain Sterling: when is the bantamweight title fight going down?

After their staredown at UFC 288 last weekend, it’s been as good as confirmed by Dana White that Aljamain Sterling and Sean O'Malley will fight for the bantamweight title at some point in 2023.

At this point of time, the fight has not been given an official date, but White did state that they’d probably face off in August. With UFC 292 set for Boston on August 19, it’s likely that this fight could headline the event.

Sean O'Malley has already stated that he’s confident in his abilities to defeat Aljamain Sterling. The 28-year-old believes he has the tools to snipe 'The Funk Master' in a recent interview.