Sean O’Malley was once shut down after voicing his interest in fighting Ryan Garcia in a boxing match.
In 2017, Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather revolutionized combat sports by selling over four million pay-per-views for their boxing match. Since then, several MMA fighters, including Francis Ngannou, have transitioned to boxing to secure a massive payday in matchups they are supposed to be outmatched.
In November 2022, O’Malley joined Logan Paul, Radio Rahim, and others for an episode of IMPAULSIVE. While discussing professional boxing, O’Malley had this to say about wanting to test himself in a super-fight in the future:
“Dude, speaking of boxing, I would f*cking love to box one of these days…I’m waiting for another guy my size, Gervonta Davis, I know I kind of talked about it before, he’s not really a pay-per-view guy. Maybe he will be someday…[Ryan Garcia], that’s what I’m saying. We gotta keep doing our thing, keep winning, and become big enough to where the UFC [would be interested.”
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Radio Rahim shut down O’Malley’s chances of defeating Garcia in a boxing match by saying:
“You being a UFC fighter, and an excellent one, does not translate to you being a boxer in a boxing ring. Ryan Garcia is not beating you in the Octagon. I’m sorry, you’re not beating Ryan Garcia in a boxing ring…It’s more of a spectacle than an actual competitive fight.”
Watch Sean O'Malley's appearance on IMPAULSIVE below:
Who are Sean O’Malley and Ryan Garcia facing in their upcoming fights?
Ryan Garcia recently claimed he wanted to fight Sean O’Malley in the UFC. The backlash from Garcia’s comments re-ignited the conversation of the superstar fighters potentially booking a crossover bout down the road. Firstly, they both have an upcoming world title matchup in their respective sports.
Later this week, O’Malley plans to avenge his lone loss against Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera in the UFC 299 main event. ‘Sugar’ will have added pressure as he looks to secure his first bantamweight title defense since knocking out Aljamain Sterling.
Meanwhile, Garcia’s next fight is scheduled for April 20 inside the Barclays Center. Garcia hopes to silence the doubters by defeating the undefeated Devin Haney (31-0) for the latter’s WBC super lightweight world title.