What Martial Arts Does Sean O’Malley Use In The UFC?

Sean O’Malley is a mixed martial arts fighter from Helena, Montana. He is best known for his highlight reel knockouts and submissions with only 3 out of his 15 career fights ending in a decision. This, combined with the fact that he has a 14-1 record as a professional fighter has paved the way for him to become one of the hottest prospects on the UFC roster.

Much like every other fighter in the UFC, Sean O’Malley is a true mixed martial artist and not restricted to a single style. It would be near impossible to have a winning record in the UFC if a fighter relied solely on a singular martial art, so this comes as no surprise to anyone.

O’Malley is instantly recognizable due to his long colorful hair which he often changes from fight to fight.

What Martial Arts Does Sean O’Malley Use?

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Although Sean O’Malley only has a single submission win to his name, it is clear he is a distinguished grappler from looking at his experiences outside of the UFC. O’Malley has a brown belt in BJJ, which is the same as many other fighters including Connor McGregor and not at all bad for an athlete who is known for finishing people with strikes.

To further this, O’Malley regularly competes in high level grappling tournaments such as grappling industries and other IBJJF events. John Danaher black belt Robert Degle beat him in the final of a grappling industries tournament and said “He’s definitely a skilled grappler especially for an MMA fighter”, which is quite a compliment considering Danaher is one of the toughest instructors to receive a black belt from.

O’Malley was also able to submit Takanori Gomi at a Quintet event in December 2019, showing he his more than just a striker.

Wrestling

O’Malley clearly has excellent defensive wrestling abilities. All of the top strikers in the UFC generally have great abilities to stuff takedowns so that they can continue to strike their opponents – with O’Malley being no exception.

Whilst you won’t be able to find many career highlights of O’Malley wrestling his opponents to the floor, this is because he possesses such knockout power. Defending takedowns is not a glamorous part of fighting and is often completely overlooked by casual observers. However, the importance of being able to wrestle should not be overlooked and whilst O’Malley is far from being the best wrestler in his weight class, he is certainly competitive.

Kickboxing

Despite being recognized as a fantastic striker, the numbers show something even more impressive. As of September 2021, O’Malley is currently top of the entire roster with 8.37 strikes landed per minute and outstriking his opponent by 4.94 strikes per round. He also has the 4th highest striking accuracy of 62.8%. It’s no surprise then, to see that he has a career highlight reel filled with both kick and punch knockouts.

As of today, 11 of O’Malleys wins have come from strikes, some of which are kickboxing techniques, others muay thai and some even taekwondo.

In the highlight video below, you can see some of these statistics in action, as well as some small cuts of wrestling defense. Often it is not a single powerful blow from O’Malley that stops the fight, but rather a barrage of supremely accurate punches, elbows and kicks. His power is not as strong as the likes of Connor McGregor, but his accuracy is not topped by anyone.

Taekwondo

Taekwondo is often a blanket term that is thrown over anything with a high kick. You can see from any of Sean O’Malleys fights that this is not the case with him as he clearly has a complete arsenal of both kickboxing and taekwondo techniques which are thrown interchangeably.

Perhaps the best example of this was his fight against David Nuzzo in Legacy fighting alliance promotion. As shown in the video below, O’Malley is able to visibly hurt Nuzzo with a spinning back kick, before knocking him out completely with a spinning hook kick. Both of these strikes had pinpoint precision and prove that this is pure technique rather than a lucky knockout.