Sean O’Malley Critical Of UFC Matchmaker Sean Shelby: “I Would Rather Not Deal With Him At All And Just Deal With Dana”

UFC bantamweight contender “Suga” Sean O’Malley made it clear he’s not a fan of matchmaker Sean Shelby while also airing out his confusion on why the promotion doesn’t want to pay its fighters better.

O’Malley spoke first about his issues with Shelby on an episode of one of his podcasts recently and said he was frustrated with the longtime UFC matchmaker’s response to his unwillingness to fight his next bout in New York. 

“I don’t even know if I’m supposed to say this. I was talking to my manager and he was talking to Sean Shelby and Sean Shelby was mad at me,” O’Malley said (h/t MMAFighting). “Dude, I don’t wanna fight in New York. It’s far, the taxes are ridiculous, and Tim (Welch) has no-Gi ADCC trials that weekend. He told me that before I even potentially had a fight. So, that’s his thing and I’m not gonna say, ‘No. I have a fight, we’re doing it.’ Especially when I could fight like a month later in Vegas. And Sean Shelby was just like, mad and like, ‘Fine. Go hang out with 6ix9ine’. Just acting like a f*cking tool, dude. I don’t know if I should’ve said that or not. But it’s like, dude, come on. What are you doing? They don’t need me. The UFC would be 100 percent fine without me. If they want another huge, giant star, I could fill that role for sure, but they don’t need me. But don’t treat me like that. Like, act like I’m not training or nothing. ‘Go, you’re hanging out with 6ix9ine too much’. Like, I hung out with him once. Well, three days. But yeah, so, it’s like, cool, dude. Treat me like a piece of sh*t. No, it’s like, dude, I would rather not deal with him at all and just deal with Dana.”

He continued on to air out some other frustrations he has with the UFC currently, primarily with why they aren’t paying O’Malley in the way he feels he deserves. 

“‘I know you’re gonna be asking for a lot of money.’ No sh*t! I’m pulling f*cking numbers, you can’t deny that,” he said. “Why do they have a problem paying someone what they’re worth? That shouldn’t be an issue. That should be, like – especially when I’m blowing up like that. Those last two fights, third-round finishes, handing out brain damage. You should be like, ‘Hell yeah, I’m gonna pay you a lot. You earned it.’ Dude, I was UFC 264.”

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