UFC title contender Sean O'Malley quit weed, social media and hair dye. Can it make him a champion?

Associated Press

18 hours ago

MORRISTOWN, N.J. (AP) — Sean O'Malley lost a title fight that could have stamped him the true face of UFC and decided it was time for a makeover.
O'Malley realized to truly be at his best — as a fighter, as a family man — he needed to make difficult lifestyle sacrifices to round himself into peak form.
So he weeded out his bad habits.
O'Malley said he's on a complete detox of all his vices. He's cleansed himself of scrolling social media, stopped the hours of gaming each day — though he dabbles a bit more in poker — and said he even quit smoking marijuana.
The 30-year-old contender also ditched his trademark dyed hair. No more cornucopia of colors that turned his locks into rainbows or cotton candy tops. O'Malley sported brown, braided hair this week and had no plans to brighten it on Saturday night.
O'Malley is all business as he trained for his 135-pound title fight against Merab Dvalishvili in the main event of UFC 316.
O'Malley, with his flashy knockouts and flashier style that made him pop as a character in a sport currently devoid of over-the-top personality, was unbeaten in seven straight fights and held the UFC bantamweight championship when he fought Dvalishvili last September. Dvalishvili, a 34-year-old from the country of Georgia, won the belt in a convincing — though not aesthetically pleasing — unanimous decision over O'Malley.
Dvalishvili (18-4) successfully defended the championship in January against Umar Nurmagomedov and is a slight betting favorite to win at the Prudential Center over O'Malley, per BetMGM Sportsbook.
'I'm ready for the best version of Sean O'Malley,' Dvalishvili said.
He seems poised to get it if O'Malley truly has squashed his distractions in his personal life.
'I never felt like I was in a bad place, or sad place or dark place,' O'Malley said. 'I always felt pretty good. I always felt like I could feel better. Whether it helps the performance or not, I feel better. That's all that matters.'
O'Malley and his wife recently welcomed their second child, a boy named Matteo, another defining moment where the fighter realized he had become almost addicted to his 'Suga' persona.
His life is now 'slowed down' without the constant need to check his phone or the paranoia he said he felt from regular marijuana use.
'I'd catch myself driving, surfing Instagram, and it was like, what the (heck) am I doing?' he said. 'I'd be playing with my daughter, surfing X, and it's like, what am I doing here? I feel like just limiting those distractions definitely made me more present with the family. With training. With friends. In general.'
He also found some solace in that fact that he's pretty good in UFC at rematches. O'Malley has two losses since his 2017 debut; to Marlon Vera in 2020 and he rebounded to beat him in March 2024 in 135-pound title fight, and to Dvalishvili. O'Malley fought Dvalishvili the first time with a torn labrum in his hip and needed surgery after the fight.
'He didn't get the best version of me,' O'Malley said.
As for the clean hairstyle for this fight, well, that's more about convenience than purposely tamping down the 'Suga' character.
'I just didn't want to sit down for it,' he said. 'I love the pink hair. It's fun. But it's a process. I thought bringing back the OG hair would be pretty cool.'
And if he wins, let the party begin?
'I've got to jet home at 3 a.m.,' he said. 'There's no after party this time. I'm going straight home.'
Olympic medalist Harrison goes for UFC title
Kayla Harrison says she keeps her Olympic gold medals in a sock draw.
That's a bit too small of a holding spot for the UFC championship belt. Harrison will take it around her waist if she can knock off 135-pound champion Julianna Peña in the other signature bout of UFC 316.
No U.S. judoka — man or woman — had ever won an Olympic gold medal before Harrison beat Britain's Gemma Gibbons to win the women's 78-kilogram division at the 2012 London Olympics. She won gold again four years later at the Rio de Janeiro Games and made her MMA debut in 2018.
The 34-year-old Harrison was a two-time $1 million prize champion in the Professional Fighters League lightweight championship division before she moved on to UFC last year. She won her first two UFC bouts and her record — 18-1 in MMA overall — coupled with her fame made her an instant contender for a title shot.
'There's going to be a new face of women's MMA very soon,' Harrison said.
Peña, who won the championship when she upset Raquel Pennington last October, enters the fight as the betting underdog and has two losses in her last five fights.
She dismissed the critics and the oddsmakers — UFC Hall of Famer Khabib Nurmagomedov once took a shot at Peña after she stunned Amanda Nunes — who gave her little chance to keep the championship and insisted she was ready to defeat another potential anchor of the women's division.
'I moved on the next greatest thing since sliced bread and it was Kayla,' she said.
Pyfer says no to Mexico and yes to New Jersey
Joe Pyfer is thrilled he's fighting closer to his South Jersey home — and only about two hours from where he was raised in suburban Philadelphia — than even thinking about taking another fight in Mexico.
The UFC middleweight was scheduled to fight in March in Mexico City against Kelvin Gastelum until Pyfer was hit with a violent illness that he blamed on food and was forced to drop out. The fight was rescheduled for Saturday night.
'It's just 14 out of the 15 meals I cooked, I didn't cook on the last day and I got super sick and I was sick for weeks,' Pfyfer said. 'So yeah, I got a lot of hate because you know I'm sitting there borderline crying upset and gutted that I didn't get to perform. I make the weight I felt great and then all of a sudden I get hit with this vicious (illness) throw up like, it's just like the sweats. I lost 14 pounds in seven hours and I slept one hour.'
Pyfer grew up in a house he described as mentally and physically abusive until he was essentially rescued by one of his Penncrest High School teachers and a wrestling coach, Will Harmon. It was Harmon who encouraged Pyfer to join the wrestling team and showed his student kindness and a path toward a professional career that sparked interest in UFC. Harmon has been a staple at Pyfer's fights and Pyfer still returns to the school for pep rallies or other activities to 'get the kids hyped up.'
'He's always going to be somebody very special in my life,' Pyfer said. 'He's the guy that gave me the opportunity to pursue this career and be where I am now. So without him, none of this is possible, to be honest.'
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