Sean O’Malley dethrones Conor McGregor, now recognized as ‘biggest star’ in UFC

Former two-division champion Conor McGregor has not competed in more than three years and as of this writing, has no immediate plans to make his Octagon return. That may explain why “Notorious” is taking a back seat to reigning bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley, who had no idea how much money he was going to make as 135-pound titleholder.

“O’Malley is the biggest star in our sport right now,” retired middleweight and current UFC analyst Chael Sonnen said on his YouTube channel (transcribed by MMA Fighting). “And ‘Red Panty Night’ is still real. Conor’s not in the sport, he’s not even licensed. Conor could not walk in and fight tonight if he wanted to. I’m just sharing with you, who’s in the sport, it’s one of those things. Conor has no more of a claim to this sport right now than [Georges] St-Pierre or Khabib [Nurmagomedov]. In fact, St-Pierre and Khabib have attended more UFCs in the last year than Conor.”

McGregor was scheduled to return from his lengthy hiatus, extended by way of broken leg (and broken relationships), atop the UFC 303 pay-per-view (PPV) card last June. Unfortunately, another injury prevented his “Notorious” comeback and his current timeline appears to be 2025 … or never, depending on who you ask.

During his absence, O’Malley competed five times and captured the bantamweight crown.

“I feel that O’Malley, as the biggest star, who’s the hardest working guy outside of the cage that division has ever seen, Top 5 in the sports history — he might be No. 1 — he is a Top 5 in history of the hardest working guys outside of the cage,” Sonnen continued. “For him to have landed this rocket ship in this position and whoever gets in the passenger seat and now you’re telling me [the oddsmakers] believe that he’s two-and-a-half times more likely to lose than he is to win and even if he wins he draws into a guy with a similar disastrous style? That is a lot for a young man to take on, but that seems to be exactly where O’Malley does his best work. That seems to be, when that house is on fire, and he’s right on the edge and people aren’t believing him and he’s got to stay sharp and if he’s not sharp he’s going to fall into a bed of needles, that seems to be where Sean O’Malley performs his finest.”

We’ll find out when “Suga” fights Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306 on Sept. 14 at The Sphere.