Is Sean O'Malley overhyped? Noche UFC ticket sales point at a doomed The Sphere card and fans blame 'Sugar'

'Sugar' Sean O'Malley has long been praised for his excellent striking and ever-evolving grappling abilities. The 29-year-old is the reigning UFC bantamweight champion and has one successful title defense to his name thus far. The Montana-born Arizona-based combatant boasts a professional MMA record of 18 victories, one defeat, and one NC (No Contest).

O'Malley is scheduled to defend his UFC bantamweight championship in a highly-anticipated grudge match against Georgia's Merab Dvalishvili. Their showdown is booked as the headlining match of the UFC 306, aka 'Riyadh Season Noche UFC,' event. The pay-per-view presentation is set to transpire at The Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.A., on Sept. 14, 2024.

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Is Sean O'Malley overhyped?

Apart from the headlining matchup that'll see 'Sugar' Sean O'Malley attempt to defend his UFC bantamweight title against Merab Dvalishvili, the UFC 306 card features a few other notable matchups as well. The event will be co-headlined by the trilogy fight between current UFC women's flyweight champion Alexa Grasso and former divisional ruler Valentina Shevchenko.

The card features Grasso, UFC staple Brian Ortega, and other prominent fighters of Mexican heritage. UFC 306 ('Riyadh Season Noche UFC') boasts a Mexican Independence Day theme and would be the second Mexican Independence Day-themed event after the inaugural Noche UFC that took place in Sept. 2023.

Another noteworthy element of UFC 306 is that it'll be the UFC's first-ever event at The Sphere in Las Vegas. It's a unique venue, featuring a highly advanced spatial audio system and wraparound interior and exterior LED displays.

UFC CEO Dana White has maintained it'll be a one-off event for the promotion at The Sphere and would be a "love letter to the Mexican people" -- a celebration of the rich history of combat sportspersons that nation has produced.

White has been optimistic about the massive financial success the event could prove to be for the UFC, but recent reports regarding the UFC 306 ticket sales paint a contradictory picture. A recent tweet by the X handle, "@WrestleTix," indicated that around 3,000 tickets for the event are still available with less than three weeks left.

Check out the screenshots of tweets concerning the same below:

Screenshots of tweets

Considering how much Dana White and the UFC have promoted the event, including White's claims of having spent millions of dollars on making this event possible at The Sphere, many believe the ticket sales are worryingly low. Several fans have attributed this to Sean O'Malley's supposed lack of star power.

Others have opined that the UFC 306 card lacks enough interesting matchups. Besides, as indicated in a report by Forbes in July, the event is marked by high ticket prices (in the $2,157 to $17,507 range).

Some fans alluded to the prices and feel it has backfired at the UFC. Multiple commenters suggested that O'Malley is a star but isn't as big of a star as he or the UFC thinks he is.

Others emphasized that combat sports megastar and former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor would've easily sold out the venue. One fan jibed at Sean O'Malley and tweeted:

"Suga is the most overhyped "star" of all time. No one wants to see him fight!"

Check out the screenshots of a few reactions below:

Screenshots of reactions

Sean O'Malley has headlined two pay-per-views thus far, UFC 292 (Aug. 2023) and UFC 299 (March 2024). He defeated Aljamain Sterling via second-round TKO to become the new UFC bantamweight champion at UFC 292. 'Sugar' defended his title by beating Marlon Vera via unanimous decision in a rematch at UFC 299.

Neither card's pay-per-view buys were officially disclosed by the UFC. That's the case with most events across all combat sports, for business reasons.

Former two-division UFC champion Henry Cejudo took to his YouTube channel in 2023 and asserted that per his sources in ESPN (the UFC's longtime broadcast partner), the UFC 292 PPV did around 300k to 350k buys.

Regardless, Sean O'Malley took to X and countered by claiming that he spoke to the UFC and purportedly learned that the PPV garnered over 570k buys.

Be that as it may, the fact remains that as of this time, Sean O'Malley has yet to reach the level of someone like Conor McGregor or Israel Adesanya in terms of star power.

That said, O'Malley is a talented fighter and a reigning UFC titlist. For his part, he's often spoken about wanting to ascend to the levels of superstardom akin to his idol-turned-rival McGregor. Whether or not that happens remains to be seen.