Sean O’Malley didn’t realize how popular his nickname was when he first got it.
Over the years, ‘Suga’ Sean O’Malley has quickly become one of the most recognizable faces in not just the UFC but combat sports in general.
From his colorful hair and tattoos to his viral knockouts en route to a title run, the former UFC bantamweight champion built a successful brand on social media, amassing quite the following.
O’Malley is coming off a title fight loss to rival Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 316 in June, where he suffered a third-round submission loss to the champion.
Months removed from the not-so-sweet setback, O’Malley was asked about the first time he was called ‘Suga’, a name synonymous with boxing legends Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Ray Leonard, Sugar Shane Mosley and UFC Hall of Famer ‘Suga’ Rashad Evans.
Sean O’Malley says his first coach called him ‘Suga’ because he was ‘so sweet to watch’
Before he linked up with Tim Welch in Arizona, O’Malley said his first coach was Johnny Aho in Montana. That’s where he got his nickname ‘Suga’ from.
“Johnny, he’s a character,” O’Malley said on Between Rounds.
“He’s an absolute character. I got some skill from him, but I got a lot of confidence from him. He’s like, I don’t care if you’re fighting GSP [Georges St-Pierre]. At the time, I didn’t know who GSP was… But he just gave me so much confidence going into fights.”
O’Malley said Aho called him ‘Suga’ when he was an 18-year-old prospect.
“He said I was so sweet to watch. And it kind of stuck,” O’Malley revealed.
“Alright, I like it… ‘Suga’.
“And there was a lot of ‘Sugars’ at the time, but I didn’t really realize that because I didn’t watch boxing,” O’Malley continued.
“I barely watched UFC. Like, Tim would always make fun of me because when I first actually moved down, he’s like, name three champions in the UFC. And I was like, Jon Jones, pretty much all [I knew].
“I didn’t watch fighting, which is always kind of weird. I didn’t watch boxing. I didn’t watch UFC. I liked the sport, but I didn’t ever watch it.”
Sean O’Malley wishes he would’ve wrestled in high school
Primarily a striker, O’Malley had his ground game exposed by Dvalishvili in his last two fights.
‘Suga’ wasn’t much of an athlete growing up. O’Malley played basketball in high school instead of wrestling, which was during the same season.
Looking back on it now, O’Malley says he probably should have wrestled.
“I’m like hehe, look at those losers,” O’Malley said if he thought about joining the wrestling team back in high school.
“I remember we would be playing basketball and seeing the wrestlers run up and down the stairs, doing hard workouts, like, thank God, I’m not them.
“For whatever reason, I didn’t think about hard work, didn’t have a great mindset for going into practices or competing at my highest level.
“If I could have wrestled in high school, it would have been so, so beneficial…”
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