Sean O'Malley on Conor McGregor: 'I'm pumped the relationship is back to good'

USA Today

2 days ago

Sean O'Malley on Conor McGregor: 'I'm pumped the relationship is back to good'
MORRISTOWN, N.J. – UFC stars Sean O'Malley and Conor McGregor are back on good terms.
Ahead of his title-fight rematch against bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili (19-4 MMA, 12-2 UFC) in Saturday's UFC 316 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) headliner at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., O'Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) has been watching some rematches as he attempts to regain his title.
One of those rematches was McGregor vs. Nate Diaz, in which "The Notorious" was able to avenge his UFC 196 loss to Diaz by defeating him by majority decision at UFC 202. McGregor took to X to comment on O'Malley's prep.
"Very reminiscent of my Diaz 2 prep. Intriguing! BIG FIGHT FEEL!."
O'Malley always looked up to former UFC dual-champ McGregor, but things turned weird between the pair last year when McGregor took a shot at him for testing positive for ostarine in 2019. O'Malley was disappointed to be targeted by McGregor, leading to some shots at each other on social media.
With McGregor back praising him, O'Malley is happy to reconcile.
"Hell yeah, I'll take it," O'Malley told MMA Junkie and other reporters of McGregor on Wednesday. "I'll forever be a huge Conor fan. I feel grateful to be able to watch his come-up in my generation. I watched it happen. I think we'll look back – I mean he had one of the craziest careers. It's cool to be able to watch it happen while I was getting into the UFC and everything. I'm pumped the relationship is back to good."
O'Malley was asked why he watched McGregor vs. Diaz 2 in particular, considering that it's a different stylistic matchup than his rematch with Dvalishvili.
"So I was watching Conor-Nate. I've just been watching a bunch of fights," O'Malley. "We just have cameras recording so much. I didn't realize that was a moment that got captured. I've just been watching a bunch of fights, been watching some rematches, watched Chuck (Liddell) vs. Randy (Couture). ... I've always taken inspiration from Conor fights. I've watched Conor fights more than probably any fights – well, my fights more, but I've watched a lot of Conor fights."