Sean O’Malley defeated Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera at UFC 299 via unanimous decision. Suga fought intelligently and won the hearts of fans who were previously not on his side. The UFC Bantamweight Champion defended his title wearing pink shorts. He revealed the pink shorts before the fight amidst much fanfare. It is very rare in the UFC that a fighter wears pink shorts but O’Malley believed it suited him.
(Watch the video from 15:06 minutes)
On The MMA Hour, O’Malley was asked about how he requested the pink shorts. The champion stated that his performance against Aljamain Sterling was worth receiving a favor for. He said, “When you create magic like that and you ask for a little favor, things get done.”
He would like to continue wearing the pink shorts and does not see why the UFC should discontinue it. He added, “I thought it was perfect… I felt like a video game character, and, you know, I love the pink short. [I would] love to stick with that. Again, I don’t know if UFC is gonna allow that. I don’t see why not. I don’t think you can go back from that. So, yeah, hopefully stay in with that.”
Cap
Be fire tho— Sean O’Malley (@SugaSeanMMA) September 25, 2023
It is believed that O’Malley was inspired by a fan edit on X. An X account uploaded an edit of Sean O’Malley fighting while wearing pink shorts. Suga commented on the edit, “Cap… Be fire tho.” However, O’Malley isn’t the only UFC fighter who has fought wearing pink shorts.
Few UFC fighters before Sean O’Malley donned the pink-colored shorts
Sean O’Malley is not the first UFC fighter to don pink shorts inside the Octagon. Multiple other fighters have done so as well. Rich Franklin is one of the first names who comes to mind along with Phil Davis.
American fighter Phil Davis, who last fought in Bellator, opened up in 2010 about his pink shorts. He said that he chose the color to raise awareness for breast cancer research.
Former MMA fighter Rich Franklin is also famed for wearing pink shorts. Franklin is a member of the UFC Hall of Fame and is the vice-president of ONE Championship. Another fighter who wore pink was Alan Belcher.
All these fighters, however, wore pink shorts in the UFC years ago. Sean O’Malley is the most recent fighter to wear the color inside the Octagon.