UFC bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley could be shedding his endearment toward Conor McGregor after being included in a rant directed toward Ryan Garcia.
McGregor unloaded on Garcia in a since-deleted social media post after the boxing star tested positive for traces of the banned substance ostarine in connection with his win over Devin Haney. There might also be the presence of another banned substance, but additional testing of his original sample and B-sample are required.
McGregor called for a lifetime ban against Garcia and then directed some of his ire toward O’Malley in the same post.
O’Malley tested positive for the same banned substance in 2019, leading to a six-month suspension from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. McGregor brought up that situation in his post and said he would like to fight O’Malley, and even offered to fly him to Dublin for sparring.
O’Malley finally addressed McGregor’s post on Monday’s episode of the “TimboSugarShow” podcast and admitted he was caught off guard by McGregor’s tone after their past has been nothing but cordial.
“That’s crazy what Conor did – f*ck Conor,” O’Malley said. “F*ck Conor, man. I’ve seen a lot of people being like, ‘Yeah, I bet ‘Suga’s’ sad. ‘Suga’ is always talking nothing (but) great about Conor, and he’s his f*cking idol.’
“He just went on a little tweet rant. F*cking booger sugar’d up, talking sh*t. ‘I’ll fly you out to spar.’ Yeah, right. I was more sad than mad.”
Despite indicating that he thought McGregor wasn’t sober when he posted the message, O’Malley (18-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) appears to be holding a grudge toward “The Notorious.”
With McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) set to return to the octagon from a nearly three-year layoff vs. Michael Chandler (23-8 MMA, 2-3 UFC) at UFC 303 on June 29 in Las Vegas, O’Malley said he now knows exactly whom he’s rooting for.
“Now I cannot wait to see Michael Chandler absolutely sleep him,” O’Malley said. “I’m turning up. I’m changing up real quick. F*ck Conor. When your idols turn to rivals.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 303.
