UFC 299 just scored the fourth highest gate in UFC history, and Dana White credits those $14.1 million dollars to superstar “Suga” Sean O’Malley, who defended his bantamweight title against Marlon Vera in dominant fashion (watch the highlights here).
Sure, O’Malley may have had a little help with that gate from a stacked card that some argue was better than UFC 300. But White places the draw squarely on the main event.
“Biggest bantamweight fight of all time,” White declared at the UFC 299 post-fight press conference. “Based off energy, excitement, gate, and pay-per-view, it’s by far the biggest fight ever in the bantamweight division.”
White even nodded at O’Malley’s potential to become a Conor McGregor level star.
“He’s on his way,” White said. “He’s the biggest star in bantamweight history. I can say that right now.”
It’s an interesting take given past accusations from Aljamain Sterling that his fight with O’Malley didn’t generate a big pay-per-view bump. It also clashes with the less than enthusiastic “Suga” vibe we witnessed throughout UFC 299 fight week.
At the pre-fight press conference, Marlon Vera got a lot of love while O’Malley was roundly booed. You can blame that on the 5000 Ecuadorian fans in town to see “Chito,” but there was no significant “Suga” booster crew around to big him up and cheer his smack. The O’Malley wig faction clearly needs to up their game.
Even during a fight “Chito” was soundly losing, he still had the crowd behind him. The second time a Sean O’Malley chant broke out, it morphed quickly into a ‘F— O’Malley’ chant instead. White credited the Marlon Vera fans for that energy.
“You heard ‘USA, USA’ and I don’t know what they were saying, something ‘O’Malley,’” White said. “And then you’d hear ‘Chito, Chito!’ It’s the best.”
Is O’Malley really a legit UFC superstar now, or is the UFC just going to repeat it until it becomes true? He certainly wants to be, but it will take bigger fights than Sterling or Vera to get him there. No wonder he called out Ilia Topuria for a big fight in Spain. Unfortunately, White didn’t sound too interested in that.
“I don’t know about moving divisions,” he said. “You know how I feel about that. Even Topuria was talking about not fighting anyone in the division after just winning the title. That’s crazy talk.”
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
