Sean O’Malley confesses that when his career ends he would probably be just as happy teaching jiu-jitsu and living in a trailer somewhere as he would be with millions in the bank.
That said, the 25-year-old bantamweight prospect is not going to fight for free, much less let anyone make money on his name without any benefits.
O’Malley recently expressed concern about the profits he made from Reebok selling merchandise with his name or image attached. While he never expected that comment to get as much attention as it did, O’Malley backs up his complaints that he isn’t getting much financial gain from the T-shirts and other items being sold.
“I didn’t even know it exploded until my dad said ‘did you see that article?’ and I said no and he said something. I didn’t know it exploded, ”O’Malley said when he spoke to MMA Fighting.
“The whole Reebok thing is crazy. I think they were consecutive years that exceeded a million dollars [of merchandise sold]. I know for sure a year, I don’t want to say anything that is not true, but I have it in my emails, I think it was consecutive years that they made over a million dollars with the shirts and anything else sold at Reebok and I got $ 3,000 and $ 5,000, I think. Absolutely crazy.
Following his original comments, Reebok issued a statement saying that “royalties paid on sales of UFC and Reebok co-branded products are dictated by the contract between the individual fighter and the UFC.”
In other words, Reebok doesn’t decide how much the fighters pay for the marketing, but either way, O’Malley knows he’s not adding much to his bank account.
“People always say ‘I love Reebok shirts, where can I get them?’ I am of course [buy them]. I’m not getting shit from them, ”O’Malley said.
With Reebok shirts that don’t make it worth promoting, O’Malley is working on alternative plans to give his fans options to support him.
He is currently working on his own line of merchandise, which O’Malley will personally have on hand in designing all the garments that will be for sale.
“We will soon be leaving my own merchandising line and I think it will be fun,” O’Malley said. “That’s something I always wanted to do, too, get into the ‘Suga’ brand, clothing, and I think it will slowly build up like any business and it will be something really cool.”
In addition to his product line, O’Malley is also working to design his own line of marijuana products, which he has named “The Suga Variety.”
While he’s not ready to make any announcements yet, O’Malley is excited to see the reaction when he abandons his own product line and believes this could provide him with the kind of success Conor McGregor found with his Pro12 No. 12 whiskey.
“I’ve done the ‘Suga’ variety before but we just didn’t do it right,” O’Malley explained. “We didn’t have the right people to build that, but I think we’re launching the ‘Suga’ strain that’s going to be around the world. That was my problem with the last one. It was just in California. We couldn’t get it out of California, so it didn’t work so well. But I think we’re about to go in with a ‘Suga’ strain in the next few months, maybe a little longer.
“But I think that will be my whiskey business as Conor. I think that will do the best. So we are getting into all industries. “
As much as O’Malley is treating all of these efforts as a business, he makes sure to point out that none of this will interfere with his actual wrestling career.
His ultimate goal is still to become a UFC champion and nothing outside the cage will stop him from living that dream.
“Everything is fun,” said O’Malley. “But nothing takes away his training. In my mind, I know what I need to do and that is being in the gym, being consistent, doing what I’ve been doing that has me here and continuing to do that. He keeps winning fights because then, like I said, everything else goes up. “
