Sean O’Malley reveals his ‘biggest distraction’ in life and how he’s cutting it out to reclaim UFC gold
Sean O’Malley is cutting out all distractions in order to reclaim a UFC title. O’Malley dropped his bantamweight belt to Merab Dvalishvili at Las Vegas’ Sphere during the main event of UFC 306 in September. O’Malley dropped his bantamweight belt to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306 in Las VegasGetty ‘Suga’ won the 135-pound strap for the first time by knocking out Aljamain Sterling in 2023 and successfully defended it once against Marlon Vera before losing it to Dvalishvili. He underwent surgery after the bout with Dvalishvili, 33, to repair a torn shoulder labrum, and is targeting a return in the first quarter of 2025. However, a shoulder injury isn’t O’Malley’s only concern heading into his next fight. The 30-year-old has over 4.5million followers on Instagram but says he plans to disconnect from social media, calling it his ‘biggest distraction’. “I said I was going to start in 2025, but it’s been like two or three days, and I already feel more disconnected from the internet universe,” O’Malley said on his podcast, which he is reportedly ending to focus entirely on MMA. “I’d be working out and I’d check my Snapchat, post some Snapchat, check Instagram. “Like dude, even just three days or whatever it’s been, I already feel like—the original reason—and I don’t know how to articulate this yet, but I feel like my higher self is trying to tell me something. “I’m trying to learn something, but I’m too distracted and out of touch with reality to grasp what’s trying to be taught from my higher self. “And I feel like the only way to do that is just to disconnect from distractions. Social media is the biggest distraction right now for me. “I’ve already started reading more, writing more, it’s just going to force me to continue to do stuff like that, and that’s where I feel like I’m going to be able to learn this lesson of whatever is trying to be taught to me. O’Malley is leaving social media to win UFC gold againGetty “I feel like it’s already been good. Next year, 2025 is going to be exciting. I’m not going to be on socials, I said, until my next fight [is over], but ideally I can just keep that going. I don’t want to do podcasts, I don’t want to do interviews… “I’m still going to be putting content out there, but it just won’t be me doing it.” Dvalishvili defends his bantamweight title against Russia’s undefeated Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311, the first pay-per-view event of 2025, on January 19. Nurmagomedov, 28, is the No.2 ranked bantamweight in the UFC and has won all 18 of his professional MMA bouts. He is part of a group of fighters trained by UFC icon Khabib Nurmagomedov. Islam Makhachev, who is also trained by the MMA legend, defends his lightweight belt against Arman Tsarukyan in the main event of UFC 311. Dvalishvili is the current UFC bantamweight championGetty “I feel like I need to level up – especially to beat Umar, to beat Merab, to beat whoever’s next,” O’Malley added. “To beat these top guys in the world, you’ve got to sacrifice and just be doing everything right, and I feel like I am. “I’m doing my rehab, I’m doing my physical therapy, I’m doing everything right. This is another, just a little bit more of a step up.” O’Malley emerged through Dana White’s Contender Series in 2017 and went unbeaten in his first five fights for MMA’s biggest league. His only defeat came against Vera at UFC 252 in 2020 before he exacted revenge against the Ecuador native in the pair’s rematch four years later. O’Malley’s only other UFC loss came to Dvalishvili at Noche UFC, and he remains the No.1 contender in the bantamweight division, with a fight against the winner of Dvalishvili vs Nurmagomedov likely to be next.
Sean O’Malley is cutting out all distractions in order to reclaim a UFC title.
O’Malley dropped his bantamweight belt to Merab Dvalishvili at Las Vegas’ Sphere during the main event of UFC 306 in September.
‘Suga’ won the 135-pound strap for the first time by knocking out Aljamain Sterling in 2023 and successfully defended it once against Marlon Vera before losing it to Dvalishvili.
He underwent surgery after the bout with Dvalishvili, 33, to repair a torn shoulder labrum, and is targeting a return in the first quarter of 2025.
However, a shoulder injury isn’t O’Malley’s only concern heading into his next fight.
The 30-year-old has over 4.5million followers on Instagram but says he plans to disconnect from social media, calling it his ‘biggest distraction’.
“I said I was going to start in 2025, but it’s been like two or three days, and I already feel more disconnected from the internet universe,” O’Malley said on his podcast, which he is reportedly ending to focus entirely on MMA.
“I’d be working out and I’d check my Snapchat, post some Snapchat, check Instagram.
“Like dude, even just three days or whatever it’s been, I already feel like—the original reason—and I don’t know how to articulate this yet, but I feel like my higher self is trying to tell me something.
“I’m trying to learn something, but I’m too distracted and out of touch with reality to grasp what’s trying to be taught from my higher self.
“And I feel like the only way to do that is just to disconnect from distractions. Social media is the biggest distraction right now for me.
“I’ve already started reading more, writing more, it’s just going to force me to continue to do stuff like that, and that’s where I feel like I’m going to be able to learn this lesson of whatever is trying to be taught to me.
“I feel like it’s already been good. Next year, 2025 is going to be exciting. I’m not going to be on socials, I said, until my next fight [is over], but ideally I can just keep that going. I don’t want to do podcasts, I don’t want to do interviews…
“I’m still going to be putting content out there, but it just won’t be me doing it.”
Dvalishvili defends his bantamweight title against Russia’s undefeated Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311, the first pay-per-view event of 2025, on January 19.
Nurmagomedov, 28, is the No.2 ranked bantamweight in the UFC and has won all 18 of his professional MMA bouts.
He is part of a group of fighters trained by UFC icon Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Islam Makhachev, who is also trained by the MMA legend, defends his lightweight belt against Arman Tsarukyan in the main event of UFC 311.
“I feel like I need to level up – especially to beat Umar, to beat Merab, to beat whoever’s next,” O’Malley added.
“To beat these top guys in the world, you’ve got to sacrifice and just be doing everything right, and I feel like I am.
“I’m doing my rehab, I’m doing my physical therapy, I’m doing everything right. This is another, just a little bit more of a step up.”
O’Malley emerged through Dana White’s Contender Series in 2017 and went unbeaten in his first five fights for MMA’s biggest league.
His only defeat came against Vera at UFC 252 in 2020 before he exacted revenge against the Ecuador native in the pair’s rematch four years later.
O’Malley’s only other UFC loss came to Dvalishvili at Noche UFC, and he remains the No.1 contender in the bantamweight division, with a fight against the winner of Dvalishvili vs Nurmagomedov likely to be next.
