Sean O’Malley admits he would’ve considered retirement if he lost at UFC 324

UFC star Sean O’Malley has said that he may have contemplated retiring from MMA if he had lost at UFC 324.

On Saturday night, Sean O’Malley snapped his two-fight losing streak and got back in the win column in the co-main event of UFC 324. He went up against a tough and durable opponent in the form of Song Yadong, and in the end, he managed to overcome some adversity and get his hand raised in victory.

RELATED: Sean O’Malley worried he would become the ‘next Tony Ferguson’ ahead of UFC 324 win that snapped first skid

As you can imagine, there’s a lot of excitement in the air when it comes to figuring out what’s next for O’Malley. A lot of people are suggesting that he could jump the queue and get another crack at the title, but it’s hard to know right now with Merab Dvalishvili and Umar Nurmagomedov both making their respective cases for a shot at Petr Yan.

As it turns out, though, there was a whole lot more on the line in this fight for O’Malley than most poeple realized, as he revealed in a recent interview.

O’Malley reflects on huge win at UFC 324

“Realistically you never know,” O’Malley said on “About Last Fight.” “If I would have lost, I’d be like these weight cuts suck, F this. I don’t know if I would have been like that but it’s possible. I’m going to retire when I feel like OK, it’s time. If I would have lost, it could have been (my last fight). I have such a good life back home, I could have just been like you know what.

“That was a scary thought going into this fight that I even had that thought in my mind. Because I was like how bad do I really want this? If it comes down to one of those moments on how bad do I want it, will I be able to push like I did in that Petr Yan fight? I got my answer tonight. I do still want it, and I proved that to myself. The only way I was going to be able to know that was if I had to dig deep and I did.”

“I was coming off two losses,” O’Malley said. “I did a good job not building it up too big. Because if I lose this fight, I still have a great life, I’m still OK but still, I can’t come off three losses. I can’t lose again. There was a lot of pressure. Not a lot, but there was definitely pressure I put on myself.”

Quotes via MMA Junkie

Will Sean become a world champion again? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, BJPENN Nation!