Former UFC champion Sean O’Malley is a man often called out across UFC and boxing, but one fight offer may prove too good to refuse.
The hard-hitting bantamweight recently lost his belt to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306, but it hasn’t slowed down his rising star as he continues to be one of the biggest names in MMA. Prior to his record-breaking headliner at Sphere in Las Vegas, there was regular talk of a crossover fight with the likes of Ryan Garcia.
But now his fellow Montana native and BKFC featherweight champion Kai Stewart has called him out for an unprecedented crossover bout between the two sports. While UFC stars have fought in the squared circle before, the bout would be a massive clash between two men at the top of their games.
Kai Stewart calls for Sean O’Malley crossover super-fight
Following O’Malley’s initial world title win over Aljamain Sterling last year, the brash champion was not too complimentary of then-surging Stewart. And ahead of a showdown with Jimmie Rivera tonight live on DAZN in his home state, the champion claims he wants his get back.
“I would love to either bounce up to 155lb or get a super-fight,” Stewart told Bloody Elbow in an exclusive chat. “O’Malley is on a deal but eventually we will 100 per cent get that fight going and it’ll be the ‘King of Montana’ title, I just know it.
“He said that I sucked after the Aljamain Sterling fight in the press conference and I took that personally. I said ‘you know, I support you, I bet on you,’ but I didn’t last fight because wrestlers always do it best.
“I support Montana and O’Malley as a former Montana guy, but it’s time for us to fight. I’ll get in there and go to any sport – let’s fight… He loves that rich dude, celebrity vibe, I love the Montana let’s get to hard work vibe.
“So it’s two crazy style clashes, the fight itself is amazing and I think the fans would get what they want. It took until O’Malley lost unfortunately for my name to get in the conversation but now people are saying ‘Kai is that guy, he’s the true Montana champion’.
“I would dominate him, in Bare Knuckle, in the UFC, maybe a big crossover. But for now Jimmie Rivera is on my mind and ‘Lil Jim’ is going to sleep.”
Kai Stewart believes Sean O’Malley was ‘dominated’ by Merab Dvalishvili
And while Stewart was rooting for O’Malley in his last outing, he is not so sure if his fellow Montana man did enough to win the fight. The former champion claims he was robbed after winning three of the five rounds, even though he was largely controlled for the contest.
Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images
“Sean got dominated, but he didn’t take a lot of crazy damage, so for him I’d be grateful for that. We don’t need people getting beat up, this sport is already hard enough, but he did get dominated – Merab imposed his literal will.
“Those kicks at the end, I think even with takedowns and everything, they won him the fifth round. I can definitely give him that round, and maybe one or two were close, but other than that I don’t know.”
Kai Stewart details mentorship from Conor McGregor
During his run to gold, Stewart caught the attention of legendary two-weight UFC champion Conor McGregor. The Irishman has bought into the promotion, and has taken a shine to Stewart, mentoring him in private messages and even drinking with him at an event in Sturgis.
“Having one of my idols from MMA cross over and now be my boss is crazy,” he explained. “He’s giving us tips and tricks and we talk in the DMs, I’m so grateful for it, and I’m going to learn so much from people like David Feldman and Conor McGregor.
“I’m a small town Montana kid, I literally lived my entire life in a town of 75 people. So this is beyond my wildest dreams, I always wanted to do this but none of it was on my bingo card at all, I am making the wave as I go.
“Being involved with Conor McGregor now is pretty frickin’ cool to me. But we act like we’ve been there and I’ve got a job to do… I mentioned coming to Montana and he sent me a voice message about how awesome it would be and that it sounds like an amazing event.
“He sent me a voice message that I’m in the driver’s seat, God bless, just little things. But then if I comment on something of his he’ll reply to me and he’ll comment on my stories which is so cool because he instantly took a care for the fighters in BKFC.
“I think he truly loves the sport of Bare Knuckle boxing. Watching him get into it in Sturgis was wild, we actually popped a Forged Irish Stout and he smoked my strain Legend OG by Native Grown which was cool because that’s my strain – what a night at Strugis, oh boy!”