Sean O’Malley believes he’s ‘not too far off from fighting for the title,’ but says he needs to be paid more

Sean O’Malley knows he’s the biggest name at bantamweight and wants to be paid like it.

O’Malley has been a massive star ever since he fought on the Contender Series is called out by bantamweights on a regular basis. Yet, despite being a big star, O’Malley doesn’t believe he is being paid enough to headline cards, however, he does think he is only a few fights away from fighting for UFC gold.

“I feel like I’m the main draw at 135, I’m the biggest name at 135,” Sean O’Malley said on MMAFighting’s MMA Hour. “So there’s a lot of sweet, sweet, interesting fights at 135 that I would love to be a part of. Obviously I want to get paid fairly, but yeah, I think I’m not too far off from fighting for the title, main-eventing pay-per-views. … It depends. I really want to fight these three fights out and then start talking big names. I don’t think I should be main-eventing for the money I’m making right now. I think I should be getting paid more, so we’ll see.”

Although O’Malley says he’s only a few fights away from a title shot, in order for that to happen he will need to fight ranked opponents. Many have been critical about the UFC’s matchmaking for him as he hasn’t fought anyone ranked despite being hyped up.

Sean O’Malley is coming off a dominant TKO victory over Kris Moutinho at UFC 264. He was linked to a bout against Frankie Edgar at UFC 266 but the date didn’t work for him so he mentions Dominick Cruz as a possible opponent for UFC 267 on December 11, the date O’Malley wants to fight.

“At the end of the day, the UFC picks. If they offer me Frankie, like I said, I would love to fight Frankie. Frankie is a top-10 guy I think and he’s a big-name guy,” O’Malley said. “I wouldn’t have said no, ‘No, I don’t want to fight him because I want to get paid more to fight him.’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll fight Frankie on Dec. 11th in Vegas.’ I would’ve loved for that fight. That’s the fight I was hoping for and that’s the matchup I wanted. I’ll also fight Dominick Cruz on Dec. 11th.”

Regardless, it appears O’Malley will indeed fight a ranked opponent next time out and work his way up the bantamweight ranks.

How far away do you think Sean O’Malley is from a bantamweight title shot?