Sean O’Malley’s McGregor Dispute Resurfaced in July 2024
Sean O’Malley renewed his public criticism of Conor McGregor during a July 2024 podcast discussion. The exchange followed months of changing remarks between the fighters, with social-media comments about O’Malley’s earlier ostarine cases helping reignite the disagreement.
Testing history entered the argument
MMA Fighting reported that McGregor mocked a discussion of O’Malley’s positive tests from 2018 and 2019. The immediate conversation involved research on the possibility of substance transfer through sweat and comments by UFC anti-doping official Jeff Novitzky.
McGregor had also mentioned O’Malley during an earlier exchange concerning Ryan Garcia’s ostarine case. Those references moved an old testing controversy into a new public argument between two prominent UFC personalities.
O’Malley’s tone changed again
O’Malley had expressed continuing admiration for McGregor during June, after their earlier disagreement. By the July discussion, he again attacked McGregor’s fighting skills and criticized aspects of his conditioning and grappling.
The comments showed how quickly the relationship had shifted between appreciation and hostility. They were O’Malley’s opinions of McGregor, delivered through a podcast and amplified by the surrounding social-media exchange.
A champion speaking outside competition
O’Malley had won the UFC bantamweight championship at UFC 292 in Boston on August 19, 2023. He stopped Aljamain Sterling with strikes fifty-one seconds into the second round.
His July remarks toward McGregor took place outside that championship competition. The coverage documented a renewed verbal dispute; it did not announce a scheduled fight between the two men.
Sources
- MMA Fighting: chronology and attributed podcast criticism
- UFC: O’Malley’s championship victory over Sterling
