Insight with Chris Van Vliet - UFC Fighter "Suga" Sean O'Malley on being true to yourself and finding your passion

Episode Date: May 28, 2021

"Suga" Sean O'Malley is a mixed martial arts fighter in the UFC's Bantamweight division. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet to talk about his fight at UFC 264 on July 10th against Louis Smolka, how he got started as a fighter, the decision to have multicolored hair, how being a father has changed him, his podcast "Timbo Suga Show", his thoughts on a dream match with Conor McGregor, what is non-negotiable in his life and much more!If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.  For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://chrisvanvliet.com Follow CVV on social media: Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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I'm Chris Van Fleet, and thank you so much for coming back each and every episode. And for choosing our podcast in a sea of over a million other podcasts. But you know, when you have a guest like UFC star, Sugar Sean O'Malley, I feel like it's an instant click. This guy is so insanely entertaining both inside and outside of the Octagon. And I'm pumped to have him on the show ahead of his next fight on July 10th. UFC 264 in Las Vegas. It's, of course, headlined by the rematch of Connor McGregor and Dustin Porier.

If you don't already follow Sean on social media, you can find him at Sugar Sean MMA. you can find me at Chris Van Vleet. And speaking of following, make sure you follow or subscribe to Insight wherever you're listening to this right now. And you can also follow Sugar Sean's show called the Timbo Sugar podcast wherever you're listening to this. Let's get right into it.

My guest today is a UFC fighter in the Bantamweight Division, and he has one hell of a story. Please welcome, Sean O'Malley. Look at this. This is like a whole vibe right here. Look at this. This looks amazing. I feel like right a little concert, a Zoom concert.

I was going to say welcome to the show, but I feel like you should be welcoming me to the Sugar Show. Yeah, welcome, welcome to the Sugar Show. That's exactly what's going on here. My goodness. So where are we right now, by the way? Yeah, we're at my gaming house right now. My little brother and his girlfriend just moved down from Montana.

So they just moved in like yesterday. so they're getting their stuff moved in. And yeah, so I have my setup at this house because where we just bought a house, well, I guess it was back in October. The internet out there is just complete dog shit and I didn't realize it was going to be so I had to move my whole setup.

I moved it from here to there and then I had to move it back and like the same week because I had to keep streaming. So, but yeah, we're here at the gaming house. Must be nice to have an entire house just dedicated to gaming and great internet. Yeah, content and internet or content and gaming, yeah.

You are so entertaining both in and out of the octagon. And I'm really curious if, like, if I was in like middle school with you and sat next to you, would I be sitting next to the same Sean O'Malley that's sitting in front of me right now? That's a good question. I remember not so much. Yeah, I'd say late middle school. Yeah, seventh, eighth grade. So I guess that's pretty much all middle school.

Yeah, I was the entertainer, the class clown. I remember getting in trouble at school and going home and telling my parents, I'm like, no one wants to be there. If I can make everyone laugh and make their day enjoyable, why not, even if I get in trouble? I remember saying that, I don't know if I was an eighth grade or if I was a freshman at that point, but I always got in trouble in school. And it was most of the time just trying to be goofy, trying to make, you know, the girls laugh, trying to make the boys laugh, just like trying to, you know, make friends and just be goofy.

So yeah, I'd say probably pretty similar. What did you think you were going to end up being when you grew up when you were a kid? I thought I'd be in the NFL. Really? Yeah, I mean, you don't know better when you're, you know, I was fifth grade, sixth grade, seventh grade, eighth grade. Maybe not so much. Yeah, I didn't know. I played football.

And, you know, I watched the NFL a lot of lived in Montana. So it wasn't like, you know, I was just about around a bunch of. average guys. I was just a normal average kid, so I didn't think of anything. I didn't realize I wasn't going to be six, five, two hundred eighty pound. You know, I didn't, yeah. So I thought I was going to be the NFL for a while, you know, until probably about seventh, eighth grade. Then it hit me. I'm like, okay, that's not going to work. Then I didn't know what I was, I didn't really know what I was going to do. I didn't find kickboxing or fighting, I guess, till a 16 years old. So there was a period of time where I didn't know what I was going to do, but I really didn't

stress about it too much. I knew I wasn't going to go to college when I was in like third grade. I was like, no, not happening. I didn't like school. I hated school. It didn't make sense to me. It still doesn't make sense to me. I don't understand why people go to school for eight hours and eight different things

and have homework in eight different subjects and not like any of them. I mean, some kids, you know, enjoy math, whatever it is. But to be only to do, I didn't enjoy any of it. I liked sports. I was an athlete my whole life. and I didn't want to go to school. Luckily, I found fighting. So when you're growing up in Montana, who's your NFL team?

Broncos. I love the diehard Denver Broncos. It would cry if they lost. Makes sense by proximity there. I guess the closest team, right? Yeah, I'm the Seahawks, maybe. My mom like the Broncos. I think I really like the blue and orange colors.

And, you know, I don't really remember. I think it was just because my mom liked the Broncos. My dad liked the Cowboys. My little brother liked the Cowboys. So it was kind of just opposite of whatever my brother wanted. So you said you found kickboxing, but I mean, you don't just stumble across it. How did you find it? I feel like in this case, I kind of did just stumble across it.

I remember vividly. I was 16, I guess not that vivid. I was 15, 16 years old. And we were in Utah on a vacation in the summer. So I was going into freshman year, I believe. Sure. And my buddy called me on my flip phone. I answer him like, what's up?

He said, do you want to check out this fighting gym? And I was like, yeah, I can't. Right now. I'm in Utah. I can't want to come back. And it was in the summer. And we went down. And I think the first class I ever did was a jihitsu class.

When I was 16, I did a couple arm bars. Didn't really, I liked it. But then I did, I think the next class was kickboxing. I'm like, oh, shit. I love that. So I completely didn't do any jihitsu, any wrestling. And just kickbox. Hitman, spard.

shadow box hit the bag from 16, 17, 18 years old. Pretty much all I did was kickboxing. I had four kickboxing fights, I think four boxing fights up until I was 18. So I was just, you know, I remember going to school. When I was it Friday, and then we had kickboxing practice after. And I just really enjoyed it and looked forward to it. And it was naturally, I think it was more so.

I was an athlete than good at kickboxing. Because I didn't really know any techniques. I didn't really know I'd throw a proper one too. I was just an athlete. And my style is similar now. It's just a lot more advanced. I mean, it's been 10 years now.

So I actually got legitimate skills. But I think just when I started, I was an athlete. I was beating people up and it was, you know, addicting. Well, you're still beating people up.

And the scary thing is you're just getting better and better every single fight. Like you're not even close to being in your prime yet. No, not even close. I think I still got, you know, I'm 26. I got, I think, you know, 30, 31, 32 is when you're prime. I think, you know, we got a good amount of skills to, you know, get better at and when it

be dangerous. Do you remember what your first introduction to UFC was, maybe as a kid? Yeah, I have a funny story about that. My dad used to watch it. I was, I remember one time I wanted to watch TV and my mom thought it was just as weird as I did those guys like fighting in a cage and I remember telling on my dad I was pretty young telling on my dad that he was watching fighting because I thought he was bad I was like why we can't be watching that um I think your eye of favor was fighting I don't know if it's the

w-e C or what but I remember I remember um your eye of favor chuckledale and Tito Ortiz like what um that's kind of like the first introduction but then for a long time I didn't watch fighting. When I moved to Phoenix when I was 19 years old, I couldn't name the champs. I lived with my coach, Tim Wells, and he would always make fun of him. He's like, dude, you don't even know who the champ or your division is or like anyone. So I didn't really watch it. Even still today, I don't watch it a ton, you know. I'll watch the card this weekend. I might watch a couple fights here or there. I might completely forget about them. I'll watch the stacked cards, you know, the really good cards. I'll watch someone that, you know,

someone who's an entertainer that knows how to entertain and promote a fight. Usually they catch my eye and I'll watch that. But yeah. When you look at a card, who's a guy or a girl on that card where you go, I am not missing their fight no matter what. You know, there's that card like the, I'm going to watch Izzy Marvin fight. I'm going to watch anytime Nate BS fights, Connor McGregor fights, you know, Dustin Corre.

even at this point, Kamaru, you know, Jorge, the top dog. I'm going to watch the top dogs. They're interesting. You know, and of course, any of my buddies fight, I train with a bunch of guys, Mario Batista, Casey Canney, Kyler Phillips. I train with, if any of my teammates are fighting, I'm going to watch 100%. So, but yeah, like I say, I'm not a diehard because I play Xbox. I stream with some diehard fans who will watch from the prelims to the end.

and know every single fighter in their record and where they're from, who they train with, like, those guys are diehards. And you don't need to be. All you need to care about is what's going on in your fights, I feel like. Yeah, I got to improve. That's about it. I got to improve in my jiu-jitsu and my cardio and my striking, those three things.

And that's about all that matters, too much to me. You know, you want to talk about an entertaining fighter who knows how to sell a fight. Would you ever think about moving up, be a total dream fight for you? I would imagine to fight Connor. Yeah, I think, you know, Connor's quite a bit bigger when you're walking around fighting a 170. Yeah.

But styles make matchups, I believe I'm, you know, way faster. But yeah, Conner's, I'm 158 right now, you know, so it would be, it would be like one of those crazy fights that,

like, you know, we're watching Logan Paul versus Floyd Mayweather. Watch Jake, Jake, Jake, like, it's not impossible. Yeah. for me to fight Connor eventually someday.

I don't think it's going to be anytime in the near future. I think I have to establish myself as a legend first. Like, Connor's a legend. He's going to begin in the Hall of Fame as a legend. I have to establish myself there before I can even talk about getting big matchups like that. But I'm on the right track. I'm knocking people out left and right and it's going to happen. So I think you finish fights.

That's what's so exciting about your fights. Yeah, I've been knocking people out since I started kickboxing. When I was 16 years old, I was knocking people out. too. Not as sweet of fashion, but I was putting lights out when I was 16 when I first started. I've had over 30 fights. Talking about amateur pro, kickboxing, boxing. I've had over 30 fights, and I knocked the majority of them out. In those 30 fights, what's your favorite highlights so far? Ooh. Maybe give me three.

Yeah, okay, that's a little bit easier. The Alfred fight and the last one that really put me on the map, Snoop on Yellen, O'Malley. That was up there to be. number one, potentially. That was legendary. You know, a fight that really felt good for me was when I had that two-year layoff, came back, fought Jose Quignonas. That was a powerful moment in my career. And that Eddie Wyndt had the knockout was so clean.

But I'd put that Eddie and the Thomas one right there next to each other. I loved how that fight ended. I loved how the commentators sounded, I made them sound stupid. Massive mistake, huge mistake. let him, you know, I like that, how that ended with Thomas. I feel like Snoop Dog made that fight. I mean, that was incredible. Did you have any sort of exchange with him before or after that fight?

Not before. I remember in an interview, I literally like remember in an interview saying, I'm going to go out there and perform and make Snoop Dog say that he wants to meet me. I don't know if Snoop saw that or what, but right after that fight, he's like, I want to meet that kid. I want to meet that kid, man. And so right after that fight, I went straight out to his trailer and I got to smoke with Snoop. And, you know, I was 22 years old. And that was insane.

That was like I was, that was the first time, you know, I've had a multiple times now throughout my career, especially now just being in Miami, feeling like I was living in a movie. I was like, what? We're passing around. I'm like, I was like, it didn't even feel real. Is it the best weed you've ever smoked? I don't know that that whole moment like was so crazy because I just got signed just came out I just had a viral knockout and I'm in smoke was new I was high on life I didn't even need to smoke and I was so high see so many people go on to Dana White's contenders series and don't

really take the ball and run with it like you went on there and you made a name for yourself and like you took that opportunity and like you ran with it yeah I mean I was coming off of but in my opinion, one of the sickest knockouts of all time in LFA when I spinning kicked David Nuzzo's head off. And, you know, so I was going into that fight with a lot of momentum. I knew, I knew, you know, Snoop was going to be there. Dana was going to be there. Like, this is an opportunity you have to capitalize on.

And it's hard for some people aren't finisher. There's some people in the UFC that just aren't finishers. They're just not, they don't finish fight. They go to decision, the decision, decision, decision. They just, they're not, they're not, they're not, for me, whatever, I'm a finisher. I knock people out. That's what I do.

And that's what the fans want to see. That's why I've built a name for myself. But the, like, the Sean that you are now is so different from that guy that was on the Contenders series. When do you feel like you really got a footing for who you are now? Yeah. I think that Sean back then was, I'm still similar. I'm still like the same person.

just evolved, obviously. But being in front of the camera more and more and more, you feel more comfortable because, you know, that was, you know, somewhat of the first time I've been in front of the camera, just getting introduced to interviews. And so, you know, when that first happens, it's kind of weird. It's a little, it's like awkward. It's like can't really be your full self.

But now I'm so, I'm way more comfortable being in front of the camera, way more comfortable entertaining and understanding what my job is. I'm an entertainer. Like, I'm a U.S. see fighter slash entertainer they go hand in hand some people are just fighters and they don't have you know they're not making the money i'm making outside the ufc i'm getting paid from merch youtube twitch tictock instagram like i'm making six figures easy sometimes six figures a month not even being not even from fighting like i'm so understanding entertainment and you and being a

fighter and balancing that is something I've really gotten really good at. Well, you're not just a fighter or just an entertainer. You're an entrepreneur. That's really what you are. Yeah, right. Yeah, merch. Like the merch drops we've been doing or going saying like the undefeated merch right after my fight, I had to make up undefeated merch. I said, I'm going to post this right after my fight. And that did six figures in a week. Like, it was crazy. That's brilliant. So I'm a big wrestling fan. And that is such a page out of the program. wrestling handbook to go, all right, this thing's going to happen. And then the second it happens, you sell a teacher based on that.

I know. I've actually never in my life ever watched pro wrestling. You could name any of them. You would be a perfect pro wrestling character. I feel like, you know what? I feel like a lot of opportunities are going to present itself. First of all, I have to keep winning fights. I keep knocking people out.

These opportunities are keep coming in. But yeah, I feel like a character is what I am. The character is what I'm trying, you know, that's what people want to see. They don't want to see some, you know, just nice gentleman, dad who just, you know, if that's who someone is, then that's who someone is. But I feel like in real life, I am a fucking character. Like, this is who I am all day. Like, I don't, I'm not really switching my attitude or anything, my personality too much. My phone.

But yeah, no, yeah, I think characters what I'm going for. And I think big opportunities like potentially pro wrestling, you know, some kind of acting in the future, I think would be cool. So, yeah. Can you imagine how much more money you'd be making on merch if you were able to wear those shirts as walkout shirts? Yeah, but then I wouldn't be able to wear my venom gear. No, I don't, I haven't seen the venom stuff yet. My fight, I think, was the last Reebok fight. So I haven't got the venom outfits yet.

they look the exact same as Reebok with a different logo. But yeah, they're really, I think my last part of me like $5,000 from Reebok because it's per fire or whatever. But really, if I could wear my own stuff and promote other sponsors, I could make six figures of fight off sponsors,

but I'm only making $5,000 per sponsor. What's the deal with Venom or at the time, Reebok? Do you have to wear it down to the ring? after the fight as well? Anytime there's UFC cameras on, so all the fight week. If it's a UFC camera, Embedded's not a UFC camera,

so that's not, but all of the media, it can be, I can wear like in my own style suit or something that doesn't promote another company, but yeah, pretty much whole fight week's Reebok

before the fight after the fight, obviously during the fight with the shorts. So I'm going to link up to your YouTube channel down below. We have about the same amount of subscribers. So a bunch of my people can come over and do it. Hell yeah. Thank you. But where can people find your merch?

Yeah, sugar shop.com. Usually I happen in my Instagram bio, too. It's usually the one that's on there. But yeah, sugar shop CEO. I love the fashion. I actually just did a huge fashion magazine for ICON this weekend of Miami that Bruce Weber shot. He's, you know, I was wearing the newest Versace, the newest Louis.

It was crazy because I'm, never really been a part of the fashion world. But I was wearing like a $5,000 necklace that just was like pretty simple and like random. It was really fun. But doing that kind of fashion was really fun. And it was something I've always wanted to get into. So having our own merch, Danny and I, like she's my wife.

She helps it design and do all that stuff. So yeah, sugar shop. com. And the merch is fantastic. Does this mean after this magazine spread that we're going to see you coming to the arenas, like dressed to the nines? Connor? That would be ideal. It's been, it's been hard to wear outfits with with, with, when the COVID, because the media day wasn't the same. It was over a Zoom. I didn't really feel like getting

dressed up to sit in the chair for, you know, I want to, if I'm going to get dressed up, I want to interact, you know, shake hands, talk eye to eye with, you know, so I think, you know, July 10th, T-Mobile arena, um, it's going to be packed. Media day is going to be packed and you, you better best believe I'm going to be wearing some. I love how juxtaposed it is. that you have rainbow hair on top and you'll be wearing like a $5,000 suit. Yeah, well, I mean, we'll see what. I don't know what we're going to wear yet. But for the most part, most of my stuff hasn't been too expensive.

A lot of cool outfits I've gotten have been from Goodwill's, just thrift shopping, finding random stuff that looks good together. But who knows? If there's something out there that's really expensive that I'm like, God, I got to wear it, I'll get it. But for the most part, I'm just kind of trying to just seeing whatever, just being different. How much thought did you put into dying your hair for the first time?

Probably about as much thought as I thought of getting face tattoos. Not a lot. No, I think it was actually funny because I remember when I first got into the UFC when I thought Terry on Wear is my debut. I had thought about doing like crazy hair, dyeing my hair. But I was like, God, I don't have a name yet. I haven't made myself a name yet to where I think it would come off. bad. I didn't want people to be like, what the fuck.

So I went a couple of flights, I went a couple of fights. And I'm on the Xbox with my buddies. And my boy Schmidty's like, you should do your hair like six, nine. I'm like, God, I've actually thought about that a lot. And that night, I told my girl, she does hair. My girl does all my hair. And at that night, I'm like, let's go. So she got home from work.

And then we actually just turned around, went right back to the salon, made my hair rainbow. It took like nine hours, got home at like 3 a. Like, I don't know, 3 a.m. But yeah, so. You know, I think I love, we've, I've had probably seven different hair colors now since we started. And, you know, I think it's, it makes, you know, it pops. It makes people, you know, look.

Oh, yeah. It definitely makes people look. I think the first time I saw it, I wasn't sure if that was real hair or not. Yeah, no, it's definitely real. It's nice because, like I said, she does hair, so she knows how to keep my hair. We had to cut like four inches off because it was so dead from coloring it so much. So we cut like four inches off. And now the curl was completely gone about a couple weeks ago until she cut it.

And then, you know, did some treatments on it. And then we recolored it. And, you know, my hair is healthy now, healthy and alive. Is she the one that's doing the braids in your hair too? She's done all the braids except for the last one. The last one was a pot leaf. And she doesn't know how to do that. But she also wasn't at that last UFC because, well, we had our baby and the UFC wouldn't

allow weird quarantine hotels. So the USC lady did my hair. Okay. So you mentioned, you know, you had the baby. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. How much has becoming a dad changed you as a person?

I think, you know, I think whoever's running this world we live in and has big plans for me, you know, had me have a baby at the right time because this year, I'd never really partied ever in my life. but never went out. I've never been to do crazy clubs. And, you know, after my last five, we went out to the club in Vegas, went to Georgia, went to Georgia, went to Miami. Like, I've been doing all these things because of all these opportunities present itself.

Hey, do you want to go to, Georgia and watch the Ben Ashman, Jake Paul fight? I'm like, yeah, of course I want to. Are you kidding me? You know how many people are going to be watching that? Of course, I'm going to go. Then Miami, that photo shoot. And then, like, oh, there's a six-nine concert that night. And then there's Travis Scott's birthday party.

So I'm taking advantage of all these opportunities to get my name out there. And it's fun, man. Partying's fun. Like, I can't lie to you say it's not super fun and enjoyable in its own way. And I can get lost in that world, maybe. But having the baby, you know, it's like,

I can't wait to get back to Danny and Elena. Like, I have, that's keeping me grounded. And it's, I think it's a good thing because, like I said, it's fun going out, party and doing all that stuff. but, you know, having, having Elena, having Danny here. And when I'm in Arizona, I don't party, it's training, it's gaming. It's, you know, living that life.

It's living the life for what got me here. The last 10 years have been training, gaming, and now it's no different, training, gaming, and now I have a baby. So it's been really good, watching her grow. She just turned six months. It's, I don't even know how to describe. It's crazy how big they get so fast. I am not a father.

I can't imagine. All my friends that are parents, they're always like, I haven't slept in, you know, six months or a year or whatever. And like, again, like when you're away for a few days, you come back and they've grown like they're twice the size now. Yeah, no, the sleeping's real. I mean, every night, she's pretty much only been breastfed the last six months. She's slowly starting to have, you know, soft foods.

But she'll wake up every single night and want milk. like want to be breastfed and you know she wakes up i wake up danny wakes up so i've i've got a lot more sleep than danny has because she has to get up and feed and um i don't know how they do it the moms women are they're different they're built different man they i don't know how they function on the lack of sleep because i know if i get a lack of sleep i don't really i need to sleep i need a fucking sleep and they can't she still goes to work and she still does jiu jihitsu She still compete in her jih Tjitsu competition in a couple weeks. She is crazy, man.

Yeah, she's an animal. So I think she might be Wonder Woman from the sounds of us. Yeah, she definitely is. Mom's are, they're just built there. This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Is there something interfering with your happiness or is preventing you from achieving your goals? BetterHelp will assess your needs and match you with your own licensed professional

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aid is available. BetterHelp wants you to start living a happier life today. Visit their website and read their testimonials that are posted daily. Visit betterhelp.com That's BetterHelphelp.com slash insight and join the over one million people who have taken charge of their mental health with the help of an experienced professional. In fact, so many people have been using BetterHelp that they're recruiting additional counselors in all 50 states. So the special offer for anybody listening to Insight right now is 10% off your first month. Just go to BetterHelp.com slash Insight. That's BetterHelpHELP.com slash insight. What's non-negotiable for you in your daily life?

Yeah, when I'm home, just missing training. Like there's, if I'm, I just don't miss training. I can't miss training. It's been like that for the last 10 years. Even when I was back in Montana, I wasn't training at good gyms. There's no good gyms in Montana, but I would still go. I'd still go and get as good as I could. now that I'm back in Arizona

it's the same thing I just can't miss training can't miss grappling can't miss my strength conditioning I also I also don't need Tim my coach or branding my strength and conditioning coach

to tell me hey we need to train it's it's me hitting them up saying hey what what time are we training at so I do a very good job of staying disciplined and getting the work in I would feel like that's just part of your job though like that's kind of like just showing you surprised

you'd be surprised I mean training every day it gets you know you have to constantly find little things that motivate you

or even if you're not motivated still go you know it's not you know once you've made a lot of money you're like do I really need to go to the gym

today but yeah it's it's uh you'd be surprised I know a lot of fighters that you know take off more than they need to what about in your personal What's non-negotiable for you in your personal life?

Non-negotiable. I don't know. Pretty open-minded to anything, to everything. I don't really have much too set in any certain beliefs that I'm like, this is it. This is it or it's no other way. Nothing that I can kind of think of. Some people that are like, it's eight hours of sleep a night or it's like, you meditate every day or whatever it is.

Okay, okay. No, that was, I wasn't even thinking like that. Yeah, that's a good. My sleep is money. We just got a super dope cold plunge. I've been cold plunging for probably three years now. I was just doing it in the regular ice freezer chest, fill it up with water, plugging in.

I'm probably when you get in. But I just got a, this company called Plunge just sent me a good cold, a really nice cold plunge. So sleeping, cold plunging. And it's been a lot harder starting my morning, every morning off with like 10-minute meditation, whether it's just like a YouTube one where it's more gratitude or whether it's like a Sam Harris one waking up where it's more, he has a bunch of different types of meditation on there.

But I really, really, I don't know if I were to enjoy it. Start my morning off with 10 minutes of meditation, of silencing my mind, quieting my mind. I think that makes me feel a lot better throughout the day. And so, yeah, I'd say that meditation, cold plunge, and making sure I sleep, get good sleep or as good as sleep as I possibly can, which means for us going to bed earlier, I go to bed at 11 o'clock, wake up at 7. My sleep's not going to be nearly as good as if I go to bed at 10.39,

like just those little half hour, hour, two hours sleep will change the quality of your sleep. So what's the first half hour of your day look like? First half hour of the day. It depends if Elena wakes up before me. If I wake up before Elena, then I can, I go outside. It's beautiful out usually. It's getting warm now, but we have a really, really nice place up in Peoria with a nice view. Go outside, do my 10-minute meditation, go inside, wake.

Elena's usually up, change her diaper. And then I take her outside. She loves listening to the birds in the morning. There's bunnies in the grass. It's usually, it's nice taking her outside early in the morning, just kind of, you know, not grabbing my phone. and start surfing. So usually the first 30 minutes, I'd probably start making coffee. Well, I always have to hydrate.

I get hydrated before I start making coffee. You know, I think that's super important. So I get very, I get really hydrated, a little bit of salt in my water. And then make coffee every morning. I use an aeropress, love making coffee for Danny and I. That usually takes about 30 minutes. Where does your podcast fit into everything that you're doing at the Timbo Sugar Show? Yeah, the Timbo Sugar Show

It's been fun We've been doing that for a couple of years now And I think, you know, that's only one hour a week That's a Wednesdays at 1030 We record it. It's usually about an hour long I just show up and talk Tim usually has the stuff written out

That we're going to talk about And then my boy JX Who does her blogs or podcasts My other buddy Dana who does Helps JX run that We do that Just once a week but my little brother just moved down from Montana

and he, he's trying to figure out what, you know, he's trying to figure out what to do in life. So I was like, let's start another little YouTube segment, you know, bullshit with sugar or shooting the shit with sugar.

And he's just going to come up with current events and we're going to, you know, keep running with that. And, but yeah, shooting contents, you know,

pretty, it's easy, it's fun. It's not like a, it's not like something you have to stress about. It's just, it's easy, it's fun.

So the positive, I enjoy the podcast. I enjoy making YouTube videos. I enjoy making TikToks and making money doing it. He makes it even better. I mean, does that take away from your training or is that your break from training? Yeah, I mean, a lot of people think, you know, you don't train six hours a day. I'll get up.

I'll go to the gym from 10 to 11, 15, 11.30 for a morning session. and then from 1130 to five, you know, I usually take a nap, especially when I'm in camp. I'll take a nap, I'll eat. And then I'm chilling. You know, not doing much. We bust out a quick video. I'm trying again in the afternoon. But yeah, realistically, you only train like four hours, three and a half, four hours a day.

And you have surprisingly a ton of free time. Have you always been this entrepreneurial? real? I remember when I was in, when I first started fighting MMA when I was 18, I did. I was selling shirts. I was doing, you know, just, just cheap shirts that I, looking back, they weren't, they weren't good. But my fans, my family, like the fans back home would buy them. I'd make, you know, I'd make a thousand dollars and I'd be able to live off of that for like two and a half, three months. So, but so yeah, I guess I was. I've always kind of making little highlight videos on my Instagram of training,

promoting myself, highlight videos of the fight, like clipping up, like shitty, shitty quality, like horrible. But yeah, I guess,

you know, that was, I was maybe in an entrepreneur in a sense. I mean, I love it. Who, whose footsteps do you think

you've been following in in MMA? Yeah, I feel like I'm creating a whole, my own path. I feel like there's a little bit of Connor in there with like, you know, he,

when, when Connor came on the scene and started, you know, selling it. I mean, I guess Chale did it too talking, you know, but I didn't really watch

the UFC that much ever. I didn't really know who Chale was. I didn't know. So Connor was the first big person. I was like, oh shit, that motherfucker was getting a lot of attention and his weigh-ins are sold out.

Like, I want my wanes to be sold out. I want the sugar fans and be going crazy. Like, that's the stuff I want. So I'd say probably, probably Connor,

if I had to pick one, but I really truly do think I'm doing something different. I'm doing something bigger. I feel like we got to put a title on this man. How many fights away do you think you are from a title shot? Yeah, I just announced her. I mean, I haven't signed a contract.

I don't think he's signed a contract, but Luis Smoker got announced. That's who they offered me. I got a ton of people, not a ton, a good amount of people, you know, a little upset with the fight getting out. I was calling out Pedro Munoz. I called out Peter.

I called out Dominic. I was trying to fight these top. dogs um but ufc's there they're they're their own business like they're running their show how they believe they're running i don't have any say i'm not a matchmaker they came to me said do you want to fight louis smoker july 10th and i said yes that that was as simple as that um yeah title fight yeah i don't know i think i want to knock out louis smoker um and then get a big fight top top who knows top 10 top five we'll see if cody doesn't get knocked out for the 14th time maybe it's Cody next maybe Dominic

I don't think Dominic would take that fight Peter's not going to take that fight you've got that title fight coming so we'll see knock out Smolka knock someone out by the end of this year and I think early 2022 we could be looking at a title So I mean I know you've said this in other interviews It's not about the fact whether you win or not

It's how you win these fights Yeah totally I go out there and win a decision And it's boring I ain't fighting I'm not fighting a big name I'm not fighting someone with a name. I go out there and knock them out the way I've been knocked people out. I pretty much get a call my shot. So, well, I guess that's not necessarily true because I knocked out Thomas

and I was calling out big name opponents and I didn't get one. But I think we're this close. We're this close. Luis, I think he's finished 15 of his 17 wins. He's never been knocked out. He's a vet. He's got a ton of UFC experience twice as much as me. So I don't think it's an easy fight.

I'm not going to run. Well, I probably will run through him. But that's going to take me being focused for the next 10 weeks, training, getting in, getting his shape, insane 15-minute cardio shape, and put his lights out for 15 minutes because he's tough. People literally get tired of beating him up and then he finishes people. So I got to be ready to beat him up for 15 minutes. I don't know if everybody knows this or not, but you're represented by VaynerMedia. So I'm really curious to know. what did you do to get on Gary Vaynerchuk's radar?

Yeah, he actually, he sent me up a couple times in the DMs, because I didn't have a manager for a long time because I had a, the manager I said Vayner Media. I meant VaynerSports. Yeah, VaynerSport, yeah. The manager I had when I first started fighting was, it was, it wasn't good. It wasn't a good job. Like, I'm like, what am I doing?

I'm paying you more than you're making me. It doesn't make any sense. So I went manager free for like two years doing my own thing. And then my dad, Gary, I don't know how they talk. My dad, I think you should really try to hear them out, hear them out. So just got on in FaceTime or Zoom with Gary and his team and made sense. It made sense for me to go with them. I'm still waiting on that big sponsorship coming in.

But I think they've been extremely. extremely helpful with in the last since I've signed with them they've been very helpful I do a lot of the work with Sarah who's fucking awesome she gets me into all the clubs

gets me into the concerts so she's been cool boy it's been awesome I don't speak to Gary often but I know he's he's doing his thing for me and stuff so but yeah Vayner Sports has been

been good meaning it makes sense you're a social media guy and they are a social media forward company. Yeah, I think I really do think they're going to be able to do some big six figure deals for me. You know, especially if I keep doing my job, which is knocking people out, making good content. They'll be able to get some good sponsors for me. I know you've been saying that you are still undefeated. And I don't know if you're aware of this or not, but someone went in and edited your Wikipedia.

So your Wikipedia says you're 13 and now. Oh, really? Yes. Good. Smart people, yeah. I mean, yeah, it's, that's been a funny, yeah, I don't know, they're right. In my mind, I really don't feel like I was beat that fight. I was whooping his ass and, you know, his toe. If it wasn't, even if it wasn't his toe, there's still such a freak accident. That's just not a loss in my mind. And a lot of people don't know how to deal with that because a lot of people. I don't know why they can't deal with that, but yeah, it's been quite the thing to talk about.

Did you immediately know something was wrong with your leg? My foot was completely, it was like a numb, it was like numb and it felt like there, it also felt like it was just thousands of little needles in my foot and I couldn't lift it up. So every time I stepped forward, it would roll and I remember dragged, like vividly remember dragged me across the cage and him standing there and still thinking he, he can't do shit to me. Like he didn't even take me down. I fucking fell down because my ankle completely gave out

because I rolled it like five times. Even when my ankle was just dead, I was still piecing him up, dotting him up. So yeah, it was, I remember feeling it completely numb and it was just, I didn't know what happened because like that kicked in land hard. It literally his toe hit the nerve. Like his toe hit a button, a tiny, tiny button.

and yeah it was super weird it was weird how he celebrated like he'd done something um how long until you got feeling back in your leg shortly after the nerve came I was able to walk out the UFC was like oh get on a stretcher get on a stretcher

and I was like well fuck it I just fucking lost and my foot hurt to get on the stretcher but yeah I was my foot was fine basically just sprained it like five fucking times and it just was like the recovery was just basically a really severe sprained ankle. Do you feel like you need a rematch against Cheeto? If he works his way up, you know, I did him a favor.

He was coming off a loss. I did him a favor of fighting me. He was a co-main event on a huge pay-per-view because of me. And the way he handled that win was it was embarrassing. He got up screaming like he did something. I just don't feel like he deserves it. And that's just, if he, if he can climb his way back up, he hasn't won a fight in like two years. He's 0, 2 and 1.

He lost him, or he lost to a song. He had no contest with me, and then he lost to Jose Aldo. He's 0 in his last 3, so really hasn't done anything. Now he's fighting another turn. And I don't know, we'll see it. We'll see if he does something cool and works his way up to me. I just think he's a journeyman. I think he's just going to keep win, lose, win, lose.

going to be the top dog, the star of the UFC. So if he can earn a, earn a rematch, then yeah, but for the most part, you know, after, after me, you stop talking about him or after our conversation, I probably won't really talk about him anymore much anymore until he, you know, earns it. So you say you want to be a top dog, you want to be a top star in UFC. How many years or months do you think until that's you? Yeah, I think, I think, you know, it's been a slow build, really. it's been you know it's going up and not super slow it's actually been kind of fast but I think you know just keep when it fights

you know I go out there and beat Louis Smoka you know my stock grows up that much more and then you know beating a top a top 10 dude I think really will solidify I'm a star you know whether after I beat a top 10 dude I could probably start headlining pay per views well I mean there's no question that when someone sees you fight

based number one on your fighting style but number two your look You are unforgettable when you're in the octagon. Thank you, brother. Yeah, I think I feel so fluid in there, so smooth. I don't see, anytime I watch people fight, I don't see that in them. I feel different in that cage. I just feel so present and fluid and just feel different in there.

I'm so excited to see you in there July 10th. Thank you, really. In front of a full crowd, too. Yeah, the full crowd's going to change the game. You talked a little bit about gratitude earlier, and I end every conversation, Sean, talking about gratitude. So I want to know what are three things in your life that you're grateful for right now? Being surrounded by my family. Danny, my wife's awesome.

Elena, our baby girl, she's literally perfect. And then my mom's moving down with me. She's got a room at my house. It can be difficult living with your mom, but at the end of the day, it's pretty cool. my little sister lives with me right now. She's actually going to be moving in with my little brother who lives just moved in. So, you know, being able to be close to my family again because I lived here for seven years in Phoenix and they all lived in Montana. So they're all just moving down right now and it's pretty cool.

So my family. And then obviously my friends, I think, I was just think about this the other day, how much more important friends are than having money. Like if you had to pick one or the other, it's like those conversations, those times you have with your friends are so much more important. important and, you know, especially going on these trips with my coach, who's also my best friend, Tim, who's also my business partner. And so having those friends and JX being able to come with us to Miami to vlog everything and we're working and having a good time. So family is up there. Friends is right behind it. And then I guess I'm grateful just for finding a passion and having something to look forward to every day, whether it's, you know, now it used to just be fighting.

Like that was it. Like I, my passion is finding. Now it's creating content. I really enjoy creating content. You know, through creating content, I'm able to pay, you know, my little brother, my little sister, you know, I have my mom, my dad, everyone on the payroll. The whole family's in the payroll. So be able to create content and pay my family and friends.

My coach, I can pay both my coaches. Like they can make good money. Like my family, it's been cool. So family, friends, and just having, being able to, or finding that passion. because a lot of people struggle finding something that they truly enjoyed and enjoy doing. And I lucked out. I've really enjoyed this, man. Sugar Sean O'Malley, thank you so much for your time today.

Yep, absolutely, man. Thank you. That was a lot of fun. No, that was great. And I will never have another interview with a background as cool as this. Oh, I know. Look at a strip club or something. Sugar Sean O'Malley.

Great conversation with a great guy. And this next fight is big for him because a win. here, along with another winner too, and you'd have to think that he's in line for a title shot. By the way, if you couldn't tell, I'm just in awe of excellence. I love being able to pick the brain of someone like Sean, who's at the top of his game. And what's scary is he just keeps getting better. Take a screenshot, share this with one of your friends who loves MMA. Tag us on social media, so we know you're on this ride with us.

Sean is at Sugar Sean MMA. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. And wherever you listen to this, you can check out Sean's podcast called the Timbo Sugar Show. And you can also subscribe to my podcast if you haven't subscribed yet. Don't you just feel like Sean O'Malley was put on this earth to be a fighter? I mean, he's so masterful when you see him in the octagon. I love it. It reminds me of this quote that I will leave you with from Marie Curie, who says,

we must believe that we are gifted for something. and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained. Be great. Be grateful. We'll see you on the next one for some more insight. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary. Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock, but there was one band that had it all. Hammer Alley. Whatever happened to Hammer Alley? How did they go from top of the rock?

I'm looking for a music video. They're a band from 1987. Hammer Alley. Ever heard of them? To Rock Bottom. Dude, I was born in 1987. I can't believe he's doing this. Hammer Alley.

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