O'Malley open to McGregor fight at 155 pounds: 'It'd be legendary'

UFC bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley has little desire to fight far out of his weight class, but he'd make an exception to face Conor McGregor.

"I'm pretty realistic when it comes to big guys," O'Malley said on the "Raw Talk" podcast. "I'm like, 'OK, I'm a 35er.' I stay in my lane, I do my thing. I would go up to 45. I'd fight (Alexander Volkanovski), I'd fight (featherweight champion Ilia Topuria), I'd fight Max (Holloway). ... Conor's one of the only guys I would fight that I'm like, 'That motherf----r's big.' I would fight him at 55.

"First of all, it's a huge payday. Second of all, (it's) Conor. It'd be legendary. He's one of the rare guys I'd fight that are actually way out of my weight class."

O'Malley - who broke out in the UFC in 2017, around arguably the peak of McGregor's mainstream success - has long considered the Irishman an idol, but the two traded online jabs earlier this week.

McGregor criticized boxer Ryan Garcia in a since-deleted X post for failing a drug test for ostarine. McGregor said the situation reminded him of O'Malley, who tested positive for the same banned substance in 2018 and 2019. The levels of ostarine found in O'Malley's system were consistent with a tainted supplement, and the fighter was suspended six months by the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

O'Malley responded to McGregor's tweet on his "TimboSugarShow" podcast, saying he hopes Michael Chandler knocks out the former two-division champion in the UFC 303 main event June 29 in Las Vegas.

O'Malley is coming off a masterclass performance in his first bantamweight title defense, beating Marlon "Chito" Vera at UFC 299 in March. "Suga" is now expected to face top 135-pound contender Merab Dvalishvili later in 2024, though a date hasn't been set.