Sean O’Malley dishes on UFC pay when you’re not a champion: ‘It definitely sucks’

Sean O’Malley is coming off a big knockout win over Aimann Zahabi at the UFC White House, his second victory since losing two title fights to Merab Dvalishvili. And while winning is sweet for “Suga,” the show ain’t worth what it was when he was champion, and that’s clearly a bummer for 31 year old star.

In a new YouTube video with Steiny from The Nelk Boys, O’Malley discussed his current financial situation with the UFC and still sounds sore about being passed up for a $450,000 bonus.

“I didn’t get the bonus, which considering what happened in the co-main and main, it’s fine,” he said. “But that big of a moment, knocking out a Canadian in front of Trump, in front of the White House, hitting a salute before he even falls. I’m like, that’s just wild that wasn’t a bonus moment.”

That extra cash would have been nice, especially considering O’Malley is back to making non-champion money. When Steiny said he heard O’Malley was only making around $600,000 for the Zahabi fight, “Suga” said the real number wasn’t far off.

“It’s close-ish,” O’Malley said, before explaining he made a lot more money when fighting for or defending the bantamweight belt. “Title fights for sure. It definitely sucks. [The Aljamain Sterling] fight, I was the challenger, I wasn’t defending the belt, so it was decent. The Chito [Vera] one was more. Then the Merab one was more, and then the [second] Merab one was less. And then the Song [Yadong] one was, like, way less. And then this one was around the same.”

O’Malley is another one of those fighters that the UFC pulls out whenever they need to make an event pop. He headlined The Sphere. They put him on the debut Paramount+ event. And they had him on the White House card. That’s not random: he moves the needle and brings in an important demographic. To be making less than a million dollars a fight is criminal.

The former bantamweight champion also shared his thoughts on rumors that Alex Pereira made $10 million for his fight against Ciryl Gane.

“I mean, I think he should be,” O’Malley said. “Do I think he made ten million? No shot in hell.”