The newly-ranked bantamweight contender Sean O’Malley recently criticized the comments made by long-tenured UFC commentator Joe Rogan on commentary during his UFC 269 victory over Raulian Paiva. O’Malley closed out a strong year for “The Suga Show” last weekend at the final pay-per-view of 2021. Having rebounded from his first loss in MMA to Marlon Vera with back-to-back finishes over Thomas Almeida and Kris Moutinho, the 27-year-old aimed to make it three from three against Brazil’s Paiva. Sean O’Malley has seemingly lost big money after UFC 269.
Sean O’Malley recorded another KO finish
Towards the end of the opening round, O’Malley had the crowd at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena on their feet after recording yet another knockout finish. A brutal combination against the cage took Paiva down and forced the referee to step in. The victory ensured O’Malley’s path to the top remained on track and saw him enter the rankings at #13 in the latest update.
He was in high spirits in the aftermath of his latest triumph, O’Malley did take aim at color commentator Daniel Cormier, something that seems to be a weekly occurrence at the moment, with Dominick Cruz and Alexander Volkanovski also recently expressing their disdain at the former two-division UFC champion’s mic work.
But O’Malley has now set his sights on another man at the desk, renowned podcast host, stand-up comedian, and combat sports enthusiast Joe Rogan.
While Rogan is no longer as present in UFC coverage as he used to be, now only covering the US-based pay-per-views, many still see his voice as an integral part of big events and he remains a popular figure. That’s the case for O’Malley, who signs off his post-fight interviews with the veteran broadcaster by saying, “I f***ing love you Joe Rogan.”
Sean O’Malley takes a shot at Joe Rogan
While the love is still there, it’s seemingly been joined by some heavy frustration. Speaking on a recent episode of his TimboSugarShow podcast, O’Malley slammed the commentary team for pushing a narrative that suggested he is susceptible to leg kicks:
“They said, ‘I don’t know why, when you’re going to fight Sean, you don’t throw more leg kicks. He clearly had a problem in the Chito fight with the leg kicks.’ I fight Thomas Almeida, who’s a fucking good kickboxer, who tried kicking my legs… I countered, he landed a couple, I did a couple good things with the leg kicks. Kris Moutinho, who probably kicked my legs more than Thomas, still kicked my legs.”
