Although sixth-ranked UFC middleweight Sean Strickland has added a legion of new supporters recently, don’t count bantamweight colleague Sean O’Malley among that growing group.
During Strickland’s (25-3) recent six-fight win streak, MMA fans have found themselves going deep down the rabbit hole that is “Tarzan’s” mind. Be it his thoughts of death inside the Octagon, inflicting bodily harm on those who have wronged him, or hurling steroid allegations at division champion Israel Adesanya, Strickland has proven to be an unusual human being whose perspectives are not for everyone.
While many have hopped aboard the Strickland train as he has risen up the 185-pound rankings, there are those who have a distaste for his style of self-promotion and trash talk. One man that is among that group is twelfth-ranked bantamweight star O’Malley (15-1). The popular multi-color-haired fighter was recently looped into a conversation on Twitter where a fan asked Strickland if he would be open to sparring with “Sugar.”
Sean O’Malley calls Sean Strickland a ‘f*cking psychopath’
Although Strickland confirmed in a tweet that he would be down to train with the 135-pound talent, O’Malley told Helen Yee Sports on Friday he has no interest in sparring with the middleweight because he’s a psychopath “piece of sh*t.”
“I mean I wouldn’t spar him because he’s a f*cking psychopath,” O’Malley said. “He wants to kill someone. Like that dude sucks. If it’s a fake gimmick, why would you go that way? And if that’s just who he is, he just seems like a piece of sh*t. I don’t know. Maybe I’m just misreading him but that’s just the information he’s putting out, and that’s what I’m receiving. He just kinda seems like not a good person. And then him saying everyone’s thought about killing someone. I’m like, damn that dude’s got serious issues and is probably gonna be on a Netflix show here soon.”
Strickland competed inside the Octagon last week when he defeated Jack Hermansson in the headliner of UFC Vegas 47. It was his second straight main event victory in the UFC.
O’Malley fought in Dec. and beat Raulian Paiva on the main card opener of UFC 269 by first-round technical knockout. It was his third straight victory in the UFC and his seventh in eight appearances in the Octagon.
Do you agree with O’Malley and Strickland is a psychopath? Or is the middleweight star just a misunderstood athlete?