Bantamweight champion and UFC star Sean O’Malley was the biggest winner at UFC 292. The Suga Show ended Aljamain’s 9-fight winning streak and became the champion via a picture-perfect knockout. Needless to say that O’Malley will be making a ton of money fighting as he continues bringing in more crowd.
Yet, former two-division champion and the king of cringe Henry Cejudo is not sold on Sean’s ability to draw in the masses. Triple C stated that according to his friends from ESPN, the Sterling vs O’Malley fight did between 300,000 to 350,000 pay-per-view buys. Cejudo even took it one step further and questioned Sean’s ability to become UFC’s pay-per-view star.
The statement did not sit right with the champ and he retaliated with full force. O’Malley claimed that his event would be doing above 570,000 PPV buys easily and the numbers are not made up. He also mocked Cejudo for his fight against Aljamain Sterling which realistically did around 200,000 PPV buys.
Henry sayin Me and Aljo “only” did 350k ppv according to his (girlfriend ) source. I just talked to the ufc and I heard upwards of 570k … legit no kizzy not making this up heard Aljo vs Henry did 135k. Also Henry 5’2 lol
— Sean O’Malley (@SugaSeanMMA) August 31, 2023
“Henry sayin Me and Aljo “only” did 350k PPV according to his (girlfriend ) source. I just talked to the UFC and I heard upwards of 570k … legit no kizzy not making this up heard Aljo vs Henry did 135k. Also Henry 5’2 lol,” tweeted O’Malley.
Sean O’Malley has always had the potential to be the star since his debut at Dana White’s Contender Series. After his win at UFC 292, his stardom will only propel upwards, given he keeps on winning fights. However, how does Suga fare as a pay-per-view star when pitted against active fighters like Israel Adesanya and Jon Jones?
Is Sean O’Malley a bigger pay-per-view star than Jon Jones and Israel Adesanya?
After becoming the champion at UFC 292, Sean O’Malley has claimed the event did over 570,000 buys. Although the numbers are yet to be confirmed, O’Malley managed to cross 500,000 buys the first time he headlined a PPV event. Given the obvious rise in Suga’s stardom, how does he fare against some of the best active stars in UFC?
Apart from O’Malley, Israel Adesanya and Jon Jones happen to be one of the most exciting fighters on the roster. Adesanya after UFC 287 has established himself as the only king at middleweight. Whereas, Jones made it clear why he is considered the greatest after UFC 285.
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The Israel Adesanya vs Alex Pereira headlined UFC 287 and managed to sell an estimated 800,000 PPVs. Apart from the main event, another fan-favorite fighter Jorge Masvidal was also fighting on the card. The event had too much hype around it and was also attended by former US President Donald Trump and boxing legend Mike Tyson.
As for UFC 285, the card sold over a million pay-per-views. Jon Jones made his much-awaited move to the heavyweight division and won the title in his heavyweight debut. Several wanted to witness, Jones in action and he surely did not disappoint.
With O’Malley selling almost 600,000 PPVs, he still has a lot more to grow. However, given his rapidly rising fanbase, he might surely manage to reach seven figures in PPV buys and surpass many fighters.