UFC newcomer Paddy Pimblett was critical of “Suga” Sean O’Malley when scoffing at the idea of a potential fight between the two, which prompted a response from “Suga” Sean.
In a video published by MMA On Point, Pimblett was asked to share his thoughts on some of the biggest personalities in the UFC. The segment kicked off with Pimblett discussing “Suga” Sean O’Malley, and his take on the colorful bantamweight was mostly uncomplimentary.
“The amount of people that have tweeted me or Insta’d me over the past month or two saying, ‘Fight Sean O’Malley,’ I’m like, ‘Lad, he’s well lighter than me…’ But he’s a bit of a bitch-ass, isn’t he? Breaks his ankle and blames his loss on that. He’s a little pothead, so hats off to him,” Pimblett said.
As a fighter, Pimblett credits O’Malley for his skills on the feet but implied that the Suga Show is starring a one-trick pony.
“He’s got clean strikes. He’s got good standup. But as soon as he gets put in there with a decent grappler, he’s gonna get beat,” Pimblett predicted.
Pimblett’s remarks on O’Malley weren’t all bad. He did credit O’Malley for his regular interaction with his fanbase, something that he believes more fighters should take the time to do.
Sean O’Malley Responds To Paddy Pimblett’s Remarks
Sean O’Malley eventually caught wind of Pimblett’s remarks, or at least part of them. The main thing O’Malley took issue with was Pimblett echoing the narrative that his ground game is questionable. Mostly, the bantamweight is just confused about where exactly this perception stems from (h/t LowKickMMA).
“Yeah, I didn’t know he was talking shit about me. That’s not very nice,” O’Malley said on his podcast. “Maybe he just knows that talk bad about me, it’s publicity. He said I had bad grappling. I wonder why people just assume I have bad grappling. So it’s just weird that some people just assume that because I’m a good striker I must be a bad grappler.”
O’Malley nearly had the opportunity to go against a high-level wrestler for the first time in his UFC career when Ricky Simon volunteered to fight him on short notice at UFC 264. There were reportedly issues with what weight the fight would take place at, and the promotion and O’Malley eventually went with newcomer Kris Moutinho instead, who suffered a very lopsided TKO loss in the main-card bout.
