Sean O'Malley: From Drug Suspension to UFC Champion - The Rise of 'Suga'

UFC celebrates Mexican Independence Day with a once-in-a-lifetime event at Sphere in Las Vegas, headlined by two blockbuster championship bouts. UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley collides with surging No. 1 contender Merab Dvalishvili, plus, UFC flyweight champion Alexa Grasso runs it back with former titleholder Valentina Shevchenko.

Three men sit on a sofa. The one on the right warbles on a flute, the middle strums a guitar and the one on the left slowly taps away on a tambourine.

As one commentor on the video puts it: “I’d love to show this to someone and tell them to guess who the UFC 135lbs champ is.”

The commentor is right. Sean O’Malley, sitting on the left with the tambourine, is one of the most talented fighters in the world and has one of the most colorful personalities – and hairstyles – in the UFC.

Known for his creative social media output and seismic success in the Octagon, O’Malley has quickly become a fan favorite and UFC champion.

Not only does his unique look help him stand out – face tattoos and a vivid hairstyle are part of the 29-year-old’s unique image – but also his nickname: “Suga.”

The nickname was given to him by his first coach, Johnny Aho, back in his hometown Helena, Montana, because O’Malley was “just so sweet to watch.” O’Malley describes his fighting style to CNN Sport as being “beautiful, violent, but not a violent act.”

He has more than lived up to that billing.

20 professional fights, 18 wins, one loss and one no contest have left O’Malley atop the UFC bantamweight division, having successfully defended his title once already. He will make second title defense against Georgia’s Merab Dvalishvili on September 14 at UFC 306.

But that journey to the top of the sport’s most popular list hasn’t always been a straightforward one.

O’Malley was on the way up. In 2018, his star was ascendant and he was a fighter who was predicted for the very top.

But then he couldn’t fight any longer.

O’Malley said on social media that he was withdrawing from his fight against Jose Quiñonez on October 6, 2018 at UFC 229 after failing a drugs test.

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), the UFC’s anti-doping partner, later announced that O’Malley had tested positive for the prohibited substance ostarine – defined by USADA as a “non-Specified Substance in the class of Anabolic Agents” – in out-of-competition tests from 2018. He was suspended for six months as a result, while he also underwent hip surgery during that time.

He was scheduled to make his return to action on July 6, 2019 at UFC 239 but shortly beforehand, he was pulled from action after once again testing positive for ostarine. He was handed a further six month suspension after USADA’s “investigation into O’Malley’s positive tests, including extensive follow-up testing, his agreement to keep a food log, his increased level of care in selecting supplements, and finding no evidence of intentional use.”

USADA said that the “pattern of low urinary ostarine concentrations observed in multiple samples provided by O’Malley was consistent with exposure to ostarine as a contaminant.”

The enforced two-year break took a toll on his mental health – he told the UFC’s website that he dealt with his share of “depression” and “anxiety” – while he also spent the time asserting his innocence. But he made sure to keep everything in perspective in that time away.

O'Malley's Return to the UFC

“(People) get sentenced for stuff they have never done, and that’s how I feel, in a way,” he said. “But it’s so much smaller than stuff like that. I have food. I have water. I have shelter. So, my life is still really good; I just have to make sure I keep that perspective that it could be a lot worse.”

Despite the personal setback, O’Malley used that time to hone his skills. “I feel like I’m twice as good. Overall, I’m stronger in every aspect,” he told MMA Fighting after his return.

And when he did eventually make his comeback, he came back with a bang. Two first-round knockouts reestablished his reputation as one of the UFC’s most explosive fighters.

But O’Malley was dealt another blow when he lost to Marlon Vera in late 2020, his first career defeat. O’Malley seemed hampered by an injury to his leg sustained after a devasting kick from his Ecuadorian opponent. After the fight, O’Malley’s coach Tim Welch revealed he had suffered damage to his peroneal nerve which prohibited blood flow to his right foot.

Although O’Malley called it an accident, but Welch said on his YouTube channel that he felt responsibility for what transpired, saying the ankle wraps were too tight and that he should have delayed the beginning of the encounter to get them redone.

While some fighters might have had their confidence rocked by their first defeat, O’Malley suffered from none of these issues.

He rattled off three straight wins to vault himself back up the rankings before his fight against Pedro Munhoz was ruled no contest due to an accidental eye poke from O’Malley.

With his form reestablished, O’Malley showed why he was seen as the next big star. First, he beat former bantamweight champion Petr Yan and then obtained the division’s title belt for himself with a stunning knockout of Aljamain Sterling last year.

With all that hype now surrounding him, O’Malley tells CNN it never became too much. “I never really felt that pressure of having to perform. I always kind of, I enjoy it. I get to go out there and do that, so I’m excited.”

But one challenge remained before he could cement himself at the top of the sport; revenge against Vera.

The Rise of 'Suga'

O’Malley vs. Vera 2 was booked for March 9 earlier this year.

In traditional O’Malley fashion, he arrived to his first pre-fight facedown with the Ecuadorian in flamboyant style, wearing black sunglasses, a bright green shiny coat, no shirt and white pants and white shoes.

In simple terms, O’Malley looked the part. And when it came to the action in the ring, O’Malley played it.

Decked out with his blue and pink cornrows and pink fight shorts, O’Malley put in an impressive performance, using his “crisp boxing and diverse striking, sharp footwork and superior speed to batter Vera for the majority of the contest,” MMA journalist E. Spencer Kyte wrote on UFC.com.

O’Malley was a deserving winner, retaining his title for the first time. Not only that, but he was the talk of the MMA world.

Former featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski called O’Malley’s performance “impressive,” while welterweight fighter Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson said his “feints and distance management are some of the best in the game!!!”

After a rough couple of years, O’Malley was back atop his division with his unique blend of fighting skills, fashion sense and personality away from the Octagon making him a favorite among UFC fans.

There are many extravagant characters in the mixed martial arts world, but none more so than O’Malley.

Sean O'Malley: The 'Suga' Factor

One of the most distinct things about him is the various assortment of tattoos he now has across his face.

The fighter has “Suga” tattooed about his right eye, as well as adding “CHAMP MMXXIII” above it after winning the UFC bantamweight title last year.

They have become a part of O’Malley’s look, but he explains that there wasn’t a distinct plan behind their origin.

“Just kind of randomly some days, I wake up one and I’m pretty spontaneous or impulsive, where you have an idea and boom, ‘Let’s do it,’” he said. “So that’s kind of what happened. I think it was kind of like the thing at the time, rappers were getting it done, but I was like: ‘Well, I’m trying to stand out.’

“I believed my fighting skills stood out. I was knocking people out. How else do I stand out? Everyone’s kind of the same. A couple of face tats, a couple colorful hairs and boom.”

To pair with that, his social media activity differs widely from the traditional content seen from his contemporaries.

O’Malley offers an insight into his personality and humor through his videos, often seen goofing around with friends or performing odd workout regimes.

He explains that he’s always been the “class clown, goofy kid” and that he sought a way of turning that into something more tangible through social media.

“I always kind of thought of social media as like: ‘If you can get people to laugh, you can get people to giggle, they’re going to follow you.’ Followers turn into dollars nowadays. Views turn into money,” he told CNN Sport.

“So I think it’s just kind of fun to try to think of stuff that’s going to make people laugh. I definitely go back and look at my older social media posts like: ‘Damn, that was cringy as hell.’ But I thought it was funny at the time. I think I always tried to be the funny guy, the goofy guy.”

Although his unique blend of charisma and success in the Octagon has brought attention, he does stress it has not all been positive. He recalls an instant where he was gaming and his home address was “swatted” – where a caller makes a false crime report intended to trigger a law enforcement response to a target’s residence.

But O’Malley believes that authenticity is vital to any professional athlete.

“I do think just being yourself, people can tell. The fans can tell when people are trying too hard or not being yourself,” he said. “So you got to be yourself. But you also gotta try to be creative. Be yourself. Surround yourself with good people.

“They always say life’s about the journey, not the destination. That’s true. Just being around good people day to day, having a good time, training hard, don’t take life too serious.”