The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Daniel Cormier TV - Sean O'Malley expects "something SPECTACULAR" vs. Aljamain Sterling

Episode Date: August 17, 2023

Suga Sean O'Malley is ready to "find Aljo's chin" in a must-see main event at UFC 292 for the bantamweight championship vs. Aljamain Sterling. Suga Sean gives DC his thoughts on being compared to Conor McGregor and is ready to prove the doubters wrong in Saturday's championship fight. And don't miss O'Malley say why he believes being a champion was what he always envisioned, and reveal how the Suga Show will take the belt from Aljo! #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the I Heart Radio app,

Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok's podcast network on TikTok. The volume. Guys, I'm here with Sugar Sean O'Malley. UFC 292, Sean O'Malley, fights Al Jermaine Sterling for the Bamboy champion of the world. Sean, thanks for checking in with me.

I appreciate you. So Al Jermaine Sterling fights a couple months ago, After the fight, you go into the Ockton, it's a scene. You want a scene, right? Because the scene can be replayed, it can be built. But Al Jermaine was very clear. I'm not fighting this dude in Boston. How does this fight happen if the champion is saying, I don't want the fight?

I'd like to say it was all because of me. But, you know, realistically, UFC does what they want. They told me Boston. I said, let's do it. You and Al Jermaine Sterling don't have much history. But when you're in the Octagon, you guys are kind of jawing. at each other. Is that just a byproduct of being in there in a cage with a guy that you want

to fight? Or is there something more to you in Al Jermaine Sterling? Every time I've stepped into Octagon, I've fought. So you know, you get in there, you get a little antsy, you get excited, but he has what I want. He has the belt. I have what he wants. Money. Fans. Fame.

You know, good looks. I have a lot of things he wants. He has one thing that I want, and it just... You guys, it's like that. It's like such an intense, like, when you walk in there and there's a guy in there. Like you want that scene. Marab's in there with your jacket on. Aljo said that he wants to go to 145 after this fight, win or lose.

Is that a mistake to kind of be looking at what's next down the line? You know, I don't know if that's necessarily true. He might, I go out there, knock him out. He takes a year off. He might go. So I really want to go to 145. I don't know how good he does at 145. 135, he's dominating.

So we'll see when it comes down to it. I think he likes the attention of that. That's the only headlines it gets. It's by him saying I'm going to go up to 45. That's the only time I ever see anything about Alja's his weight. I'm a big bantam weight. I'm a weight bully. You're taller than him, though.

Yeah, yeah. Much taller. Yeah, I am. Thank you. But you have no desires of going up or anything. It's all right now. Yeah, right now I want to be, I want to do what he's doing. I want to get the belt.

I want to defend the bell. And it's as simple as that. I have very big plans for what I want to do in the UFC with, you know, and another thing. So I want to, and that doesn't, you can't do the things that I want to do without becoming champ. I mean, you don't got to defend the belt realistically. Yeah, you got to just be champ. You don't. Connor didn't.

He didn't defend it. But he went up a weight class. And, but ideally, you know, I have to be champ to do the things that I want to do. You spoke about him getting the headlines only about weight. What is it, right? When a guy can win at that level, but not be connected to the people. And what makes it easy for people to be connected to you? Because it seems like the fans flood to you.

With this guy, no matter what he does, he doesn't seem to resonate with the people as much. I feel like he's doing a good job. I feel like he's slowly kind of turning that around, super slow, slowly turning that around. And I don't know, I don't have the answer to that. I don't know why the fans, I have more of a fan base or more exciting or whatever.

It's what the people say. I don't know. I don't have the answer to that. I don't necessarily, it just, it is what it is. you know, one of your buddies fought last week, boy got game. Marcus. Yeah, he got game, huh? Him and also Batista.

You trained with Batista, too? Kyler won the week before. Tyler won the week before. Carlos, Marios was supposed to fight Cody Garbrandt. Some people just aren't built for this. And he had to pull out. He said that after I got injured ones. So I got to use that a few times lately.

But yeah, so Mario was supposed to fight Cody. He was very, very excited for the opportunity for him to fight a big name. You know, he was on a 17-fight, losing. Street, but it would have still been a good win for him. But now he's got a short notice guy that won last weekend. That won last week. And it's tough, right? Yeah.

But you guys got to rock and roll a little bit down there in Phoenix, Arizona. Yeah. You said this morning on first take, you feel like you're going to knock Al Jermaine Sterling out. What is it that you see that makes you feel that way? Because I think when I watch you strike, right, it's not just that you can box. It's the angles, it's the footwork. It's the, you're very precise, but it's the, it's in the angles, man.

The way you spin people, the way you pop off and pivot, I think, like, to the blind eye, they don't pick up on that. Is it something in that that you think you can find Al Jameen reaching or something to put him out? Yeah, I think, you know, you look at his shots. He does have some really good entries, some really good shots, but he has a lot of sloppy shots too. He'll shoot out of this, he'll just shoot. And I find people's chins, and I just picture him shooting, taking a sloppy shot,

and landing the shot. shots that I need to. He is cutting a lot of weight and that does play a role in your brain juice. I think guys like when I fought Chris Montino, I don't think he wasn't a very big guy. I don't think he cut that much weight. No, he took a lot of damage, too. Yeah, and he took a lot of damage. There's no way Aljo could take those shots. And those were heavy shots on the chin. I found his chin, you know, 400 times. Yeah. So I'm going to find Aljo's chin. And it's, you know, it's no secret, my game plan and his game plan. Mine's don't let him touch me. I don't want my back up against the cage. I don't want him to touch me.

wants. Is this never surprising to you like that you're here this fast? Not even just getting to a title shot, right? Having this fan base, having this type of popularity, having this profile in fighting, is this all ever like surprising? Do you ever take a moment to kind of look back at the work and go, man, I couldn't even have imagined that this would have happened this quickly? It's weird. And I say this and it's just the truth. I pictured all this. I've seen this at an early age. I remember when I kind of met Tim for the first time in Phoenix. I was 18 years old, flew down the first time, and I was like, we're going to be in the top. I'm going to be a star in the UFC. And this was, I just, I don't know why I had that kind of mindset. I don't know if it's

from being from a small town in Montana and just being kind of delusional, thinking like, oh, I can, for whatever reason, I literally seen all this, pictured all of this, and, you know, now it's here. So it's not like a, I'm definitely grateful for. for it and it's really cool to look back on where I came, but it's not like, whoa, it's not weird to me. It's normal. It's part of the movie that's been playing in my head. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games.

Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win.

A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand-new podcast,

The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger.

So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs?

Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s.

To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. And yes, I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really?

Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. At what point did that change for you, right? Because I remember, I feel like it's been from the start right? The moment you see Snoop going, O'Malley, O'Malley, O'Malley, it seemed like you could get to this point, but you had to back it up. And there were a lot of people that were very hesitant to give you the credit that you deserve in terms of being a top level fighter. And even me, I'll be like, well, we got to see what he's going to do.

We got to see what he's going to do. Now, I openly tell you that. But I felt that as you continue to evolve, I thought in the last fight was when I said to myself, fuck, this guy, he really does have it. Because you didn't have to just win. You have to dig real deep against Peoria. And to fight a guy at that level, it was like, okay, Sean O'Malley's ready for the top. What point for you did you feel that? Can you go back to that?

Yon fight and feel like, man, there were moments where I was like, fuck, this is going to be what people are going to remember about me for a while. I've always known I had the dog in me. I trained at the lab getting beat up when I first moved down there as an amateur. And I never just quit. I never just, you know, laid over. So I always knew I had the dog in me. And I kept getting these guys that I was fighting, you know, Eddie Wineland, Thomas Almeida,

you know, getting these names where, in Jose Cignon, I knew I was going to go out there and knock these dudes out. I wasn't going to say no. I want to highlight real. I want to get paid. And I want to, you know, be able to go back to the UFC and say, hey, this is what I'm capable of doing. And so I was never upset with people questioning. It was Eddie Weinland.

He's not his prime anymore. I'm like, all right, that's fine with me. I did my job. The next guy, next guy. So I never, I get why people questioned. It was always like, well, he's getting the matchups. He's getting the match up. He's getting the match up.

Because people don't want to believe that a guy can kind of have it. and then have it that accompanies all those wins. People are hesitant with that. But in that last fight, it was like, man, is this too much for him too soon? Yeah, no, I mean, we all got to, in my heart, I truly believe they go out there and beat him. And, you know, I was a huge underdog. But my team knows, the guys that trained with Noah, I'm not just this. I'm in the gym consistently.

You don't not be in the gym consistently and go and accidentally beat Peter Yan. You beat Peter Yan, you know, by having a certain level of skill, heart, will to win. and yeah I want to be rich I want to be famous all this stuff but I still have the dog man I still I'm a winner I'm a competitor

I've been competing my entire life not in fighting but in just other sports I hated losing and I still hate losing so it's yeah I knew I had it in me I knew there would be questions around it

but that was a massive step up in competition Peter was by far the best guy fought hands down and I beat him it was a very very close fight I've watched it back multiple times the first round was very close that's kind of what it comes down to

out to you. And you saw that take down. You won the fight. You saw that take down at that first. I saw it. You won the fight. Yeah. But here's the thing, right?

You had to beat him, but you actually had to beat him with a skill set that matched his skill set. Yeah. You didn't take him down multiple times, right? You had to, like, actually box and outstrike a guy that is known for his striking. Turn him into a wrestler. You turn him into the guy that was trying to wrestle. Yeah. You know, I don't get it.

I always thought it was funny when you would say I'm undefeated, I'm undefeated because of the way that Chito Verra fight ended. You go on publicly now and say you win, Cheeto wins, matches up in December. Why? It would seem as though you're past him. I'm definitely past him. I've been past him, but I've always,

everyone's like, why don't you rematch him? I said, I will rematch him. I will give him that opportunity when the time is right. I can't think of a bigger fight in the Bantuan Division than me versus Chito, the rematch, just because it's the rematch. If we had never fought and he goes out there beat to Pedro,

I was like, eh, sure, I'll go fight him. And because he had just lost to San Hagan. Bad. Of course, St. Hagen fought really good that fight. Cheetah fought really bad. He did fight good, but that was... San Higgan fought good. Yeah, he did.

Yeah, so it's tough. You know, he's coming off a embarrassing performance. So if he can go out there and get the job done against Pedro, that's the only fight really that makes sense. If I was wanting, which I am wanting to fight in December, that would be the fight that makes sense. But I'm not looking past Aljo at all. Not even a little bit.

but you know you get asked these questions. All the time, yeah. So I have an answer. It's Cheeto, December. Do you like the Connor McGregor comparisons? Do you like those comparisons? Because people want to compare you to Connor. And in reality, you guys are both strikers.

But it's a much different approach to striking. It's not the same, right? You are different than Connor McGregor in the way that you strike, in the way that you move, as I spoke about a little bit earlier. But do you like those comparisons? I mean, he's extremely rich. He's a good business. man. It was double champ. He's considered one of the goats in UFC as far as all-around things.

Maybe not just skill, just talent. He's very talented, very skilled, but there's, you guys that are more skilled. But as far as, yeah, I don't mind those comparisons. It always trips me out when I feel like people can have similar personality traits. We obviously have a couple similar, so people want to compare me. Oh, you dress like Connor. It's like if I wear a suit. If anyone wears a suit, I'm just like Connor. So, but yeah, I don't mind the comparisons. Considering what he's done for the sport, it's a compliment, really. It is the craziest thing when people are like, oh, you're a company man.

I'm like, they write my fucking chest. Yeah. They write my checks. Of course I want to be like Connor McGregor. He's got billions of dollars. Yeah. It is what it is. But could you think, now, Sean, as I let you go, this is my last question. Have you allowed yourself when thinking of the biggest moments in UFC history, when guys attain something so great. McGregor, 14 seconds over Aldo. Widman, knocking out Anderson. Hell, when me and Stipe fought the first time. Have you allowed yourself to think about that in Boston, fighting Al Jermaine this weekend?

Allow yourself to go to a place and go, man, I put this dude out in the most dramatic fashion. I become the champion. How sweet that would be? Yeah, that definitely crosses my mind. But I have this weird acceptance of whatever happens happens. that allows me to be as calm as I am and not feel pressure. So I truly, you know, whatever happens in this fight I'm okay with,

I go into that every fight. I have that. Whatever it's going to happen is going to happen. Do I believe something spectacular is going to happen? I do. August 19th, Saturday night, pay-per-view, we get to find out. I'm sorry, lasting. Is this the problem, is it a problem that you haven't,

would you have wanted to main event a fight and how there's something to fight five rounds? You're so valuable, right? They always have you on pay-per-view that you never got to fight five. First time fighting five against this guy. Will that matter at all? No, I planned that. You know, I could have headlined fight nights for sure. I'm, you know, there was a number in my mind that if I'm going to fight five rounds,

damn you're fighting twice in one night. It is. It sucks. But that 10 minutes is long. Might as well be 15. If I'm going to fight five-fives, I want to be paid a certain amount. I'm being paid to that amount. I'm very happy with my contract.

And five-five, yeah, it's definitely, you know, obviously I, I hadn't sparred five-fives in a fight camp before because there was really no need. Maybe you do four sometimes, just kind of do extra. But yeah, this camp we did five-fives, and that was the only real difference. But, yeah, it's a big difference. It's, you know. It's the worst thing. That fourth round in the fight, 11 straight five-round fights from me as I ended my career.

It was the craziest shit. 11 straight five-round fights. That's insane. It's nuts. Because training for five rounds. That's the problem, right? It's not even the fight. It's like in the training.

You leave so much as you prepare. Guys, Sugar-Sharn-O-Malley challenges. Al Jermaine Sterling this weekend, UFC 2-92 main event for the Bannamweight Championship in the World. Make sure you guys hit the buy button. Watch him try to become the champ. Until next time, guys. Peace.

Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and Headwriters, Street or Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform?

We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all.

Embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J.

And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. with our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. It was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.