Mario Bautista wants to be a UFC champion, and he knows what it takes to get there after spending the past decade training alongside current bantamweight king Sean O’Malley.
Long before they were two of the top fighters in the 135-pound division, Bautista and O’Malley were new arrivals in Arizona with dreams of just reaching heights like competing in the UFC. All these years later, O’Malley now stands as the best bantamweight in the sport, while Bautista rides a five-fight win streak with a chance to join the top 15 rankings with his upcoming fight against Ricky Simon at UFC Vegas 84.
“My relationship with Sean stems from us showing up at the gym 10 years ago, a month right after each other,” Bautista revealed when speaking with MMA Fighting. “Kind of going through the process of being amateurs on the pro fight team, getting beat up together and kind of growing into our own.
“That’s where my relationship starts with Sean. To see him get that belt, it was super awesome and I was happy for him.”
Bautista says despite O’Malley’s rise to fame in recent years, the colorful and always outspoken UFC champion remains loyal to the people surrounding him.
While not training together for his upcoming fight due to Simon having a completely different body type and style, Bautista knows without a shadow of a doubt if he needed help, O’Malley would give it without question.
In fact, Bautista even touted O’Malley’s generosity towards his teammates whenever he’s called asking for help himself.
“Let’s say I was going to fight Cory Sandhagen and I called Sean and said I need your help, he would be there 100 percent of the time, giving me everything he possibly could,” Bautista said. “I know that for sure and the same the other way around. I’ve been there his whole career giving him rounds, being a sparring partner for him so I know 100 percent he would return the favor back.
“If I called on him, he would be right there helping me out. He’s helped throughout my career, giving me rounds or me giving him rounds being a sparring partner for him. He gets a fight and throws a little bit of cash my way, just little things like that and I really appreciate him. I know he would return the favor.”
For his next fight, O’Malley will attempt to avenge the only loss of his UFC career when he faces Marlon “Chito” Vera in a rematch at UFC 299 in March. Bautista is understandably biased towards his friend and teammate but he definitely expects O’Malley to get the job done, especially after watching Vera’s most recent performance.
“I think Sean gets the win for sure,” Bautista said. “‘Chito,’ he looked good in his last fight against Pedro [Munhoz] but Pedro’s getting a little bit older. It wasn’t super impressive.
“It’s like that thing they say, once you get the belt you get 30 percent better. I’m excited for Sean, to see his improvements and his confidence. In his last fight, he was actually injured going into that fight. For him to pull that out and get the ‘W,’ I can only imagine what he’s going to do with a full healthy camp and already being champ. I’m excited and I think Sean’s going to get the ‘W.’”
With a chance to potentially earn a spot in the rankings with his fight on Saturday, Bautista hopes that will serve as the next step towards his own goal of fighting for a UFC title one day soon.
He knows he’s good enough to go with the best fighters in the world as evidenced by all the time he’s spent training and sparring with O’Malley and other top bantamweights at his gym. Of course, O’Malley being the current champion at 135 pounds as well as his friend and teammate could create a conflict of interest, but it’s not something Bautista has even contemplated yet.
If the time comes when he’s knocking on the door of title contention, and O’Malley is still champion, Bautista will deal with that harsh reality. Until then, it’s not a subject he’s wasting away thinking about.
“It’s something we haven’t really talked about before,” Bautista said. “I think that’s just a topic once we get there. I feel weird even talking about it, not being in that position yet.
“But at the same time, I think obviously if we do get in that position, I do want the belt and we’ll have to figure something out for sure.”
