Conor McGregor addresses comments toward Sean O'Malley: 'He kind of got caught in the crosshairs'

Conor McGregor doesn’t have any ill will toward UFC bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley.

McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) took aim at O’Malley when asking for a lifetime ban on Ryan Garcia, who tested positive for traces of ostarine in his win over Devin Haney. O’Malley tested positive for the same banned substance in 2019, resulting in a six-month suspension by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

O’Malley (18-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) responded, saying McGregor is likely jealous of his growing star power and that he’d be open to fighting him. McGregor acknowledges that O’Malley has always shown him respect in the past.

“You know, I like Sean O’Malley – I do actually like Sean,” McGregor said on a live stream with Duel Bits (h/t Championship Rounds on X). “I’d just seen the disrespect of Garcia, coming in overweight, real lackadaisical with it, multiple pounds overweight, and then testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

“It just reminded me of the situation with Sean and he kind of got caught in the crosshairs. He also said something like he’d beat me. Not in his wildest dreams – but I do like Sean.”

McGregor recalls giving O’Malley advice when he was on the come-up, and appears open to hashing things out.

“I bumped into him at a football stadium and he was being influenced by this influencer boxing approach where it’s pick and choose your matches,” McGregor said. “He said he wouldn’t fight people above his category. I went and seen him when he was in this mode and I said to him, ‘Are you the best? Are you the world champion? Because if you’re world champion, who cares who it’s against? You should go until you’re the champion – fight everyone and anyone at any given moment. That’s what I’ve done.’

“Since then, he went and fought Petr Yan, he fought (Marlon) ‘Chito’ Vera, Aljamain Sterling. He done it and he showed it, so I was happy with that. It is what it is. Whatever. You can’t be cheating and using performance-enhancing drugs in competition. O’Malley, he has been nice to me, and I know I motivated him to probably take up this career, as I’ve done to many people. So you know, we’ll figure it out.”