Jon Jones, at 36 years of age, has been around the sport of mixed martial art, and dominating it, for the better part of two decades. Whether you are a fan or not, the word of the UFC heavyweight champion and former light heavyweight king carries a lot of weight. So when he likens Sean O’Malley to Irish superstar Conor McGregor, it means a lot.
“He’s young enough still to really make those leaps and bounds in his game. He’ll be around for a long time.” – Jon Jones on Sean O’Malley
Jon Jones compares “raw, authentic” Sean O’Malley to Conor McGregor
When asked in a recent Overdogs Podcast who the fighters are that get him excited to watch the sport, Jones was quick to point to O’Malley and heavyweight Tom Aspinall.
“I’m with the majority of the community. I’m most excited about Sean O’Malley. I’m excited about him. I think he has the looks. He reminds me a lot of McGregor. He’s really raw, authentic; he has that kind of rags-to-riches story that everyone appreciates, especially in this country. I like him. I like him a lot and I really want to see how far he can take it,” said Jones.
At 35 years of age, McGregor has shown less of a desire to come back to fight and make sustained trips to the Octagon. That’s to be expected from someone that has generated hundreds of millions of dollars of income and is very active in the business community as well.
But O’Malley is just 28 years old. He has a lot of years left in this sport, if he so chooses. Plus, he has a lot of upside. O’Malley emerged in the Octagon from climbing the ranks from the Dana White Contender Series and The Ultimate Fighter to now knocking out Aljamain Sterling to become the UFC bantamweight champion.
That is something that draws Jones’s attention and keeps it locked in.
“He’s young enough still to really make those leaps and bounds in his game. He’ll be around for a long time,” said Jones.
“To beat up Aljamain like that. I always put my money on the wrestler. O’Malley, he’s looking like the total package. I’m going to be tuning into his pay-per-views for the next few years, for sure. I wanna see how far he fan take it.”
Jon Jones has heavyweight Tom Aspinall on his watch list
Beyond O’Malley, Jones likes what he’s seen from English heavyweight Tom Aspinall. At 30 years of age, Aspinall has been fighting professionally for a little less than 10 years, but amassed a 13-3 record. He has defeated the likes of Marcin Tybura, Alexander Volkov, Sergey Spivak, and Andre Arlovski. Perhaps more impressively, all of his victories have come by way of knockout or submission.
“Tom Aspinall, I think he has the potential to do something really special in the heavyweight division. I think he’s going to be hard for the majority of guys to beat. I really do believe that,” Jones continued.
“I think those two are the two that I’m most excited for their futures in the UFC. See where they go.”
Conor McGregor accelerate the growth of mixed martial arts
Just as he likened O’Malley to McGregor, Jones is also looking forward to the Irishman’s return to the Octagon.
“I would love to see Conor McGregor come back. He would always get my pay-per-view buy. I love what he did for the sport. I love the businessman, the mindset, the marketability. I mean, he fast forwarded this whole game up at least 10 years. He’s always gonna have my support.”
https://www.mmaweekly.com/ufcnews/jon-jones-insists-sean-omalley-conor-mcgregor-raw-authentic
