Editor's note: Helena native Sean O’Malley will defend his bantamweight championship at UFC 306 in Las Vegas, held at the Sphere. MTN Sports will be on hand for the return of the “Suga Show” with updates throughout fight week.
MTN will also produce two special programs leading up to the fight — "Sean O'Malley: The Making of a Champion" will debut at 7 p.m. Sept. 11 on the MTN channel, while "Sean O'Malley: Road to UFC 306 "will air at 10:30 a.m. Sept. 14 on CBS.
HELENA — A quick Look through Sean O’Malley’s social media and it’s obvious the man is a walking endorsement.
Whether he’s promoting a body wash with Jake Paul, throwing back his Ryse Fuel Energy Drink, promoting gambling website PrizePicks or making an appearance at an Arizona Cardinals football practice, it’s clear the “Suga Show” brand is strong.
Organizations see dollar signs and line up to be associated with O’Malley’s success. But it wasn’t always like that.
Before O’Malley took off to stardom, he needed a runway. And his first sponsors and promoters provided that for him. He needed financial backing to cover training and living expenses while he pursued his dream of becoming the best in the world.
But what did they see the kid from Helena?
Homegrown talent
Perhaps the first person to recognize O’Malley’s talent and marketability was Cory Smith, then the owner of mixed martial arts promotion 221 Industries.
“A friend of mine told me that I had to see this skinny kid from Helena fight. So me and a buddy drove to Missoula, and Sean knocked this kid out with a spinning back fist in like 10 seconds,” Smith recalled. “221 Industries was brand new, we were looking for that person to put us on the map. And I was like, that's that kid right there.”
After a few amateur fights for 221, Smith had built a relationship with O'Malley’s family and they gave him their blessing to ink O'Malley to his first professional contract, a three-fight deal.
“I had no clue what I was doing. It was on a word document. I copy and pasted our 221 logo on the top and we signed it at the Staybridge Suites,” Smith said. “There was kind of a rush at that time, because I knew Sean was going to go big, and I wanted to get him signed first because he's a local, he's a Montanan. And so I remember feeling some urgency. Because everyone knew the fuze was lit with that kid.”
Smith had his own backers to assist with sponsorship and promotion. When O'Malley initially moved to Arizona to train full time, he needed help paying for living and training expenses. That’s where people like Rich Hollis, then owner of the Sting Sports Bar in Great Falls, stepped in.
The Sting logo adorned O'Malley’s fight kit for the majority of his amateur and pro beginnings in Montana.
"Cory Smith hit me up and said there’s this kid down in Helena who’s really good. So we went down, watched one of his fights and I'd coached athletics for quite a long time," Hollis said. "And when you know a good athlete, you can just kind of see it and tell. So I was like, ‘Yeah, Cory, I'm in. Let's start sponsoring a kid. Let's see what he can do’.”
His potential was untapped. O’Malley was a born striker with fast hands, but needed higher level training than could be found in Montana in order to break through. So Smith, Hollis and other backers like Alias Smith & Jones Pawn supported him financially.
“It was important I thought for Sean to get down there (to Arizona) and see what his potential was going to be,” Hollis said. “So I just helped him out as much as I could for as long as I could. And once he started to rise, he just took off.”
Big fish, small pond
O’Malley fought his first five professional fights for 221 Industries. But when skills and success necessitated a move moved on to bigger promotions, he needed bigger sponsors. And he didn’t have look further than his hometown to find one. Mike Ishak, then the general manager at Lithia Motors in Helena, had watched O'Malley’s career with interest and reached out with an opportunity.
“He came in. We visited a little bit, and you know he was barely scraping by down there. He was kind of the rug rat in the gym,” Ishak said. “And, we visit a little bit and we talked about some sponsorship stuff and I told him I'm a big fan. And one thing led to another, and we gave him his first sponsorship.”
It wasn’t a blockbuster deal, but it allowed O'Malley to focus full time on climbing his way to the UFC and shift his training into overdrive.
“We gave him a thousand bucks a month. which to him back then was a lot of money because he had nothing,” Ishak said. “And for that thousand bucks a month, he gave us shout outs on Facebook and Instagram and made a couple appearances at the dealership.”
Like much of O'Malley’s early sponsors, it was less about getting a return on their investment and more about helping a talented, driven athlete reach his dreams.
“It was more or less just getting behind him than it was getting anything in return,” Ishak said.
Continued support
And even when the deals ran their course and both parties moved on, O'Malley never forgot those who believed in him first.
Hollis recalls a time a few years back when O'Malley dropped in out of nowhere to offer support during a hard time.
“I had a burglary, unfortunately. And, some friends of mine did a fundraiser. Sean came back up to the Sting to sign autographs for free. And this was all on his money. Nobody paid him to do any of this or anything,” Hollis said. “Every time I’m around the kid he’s just a pleasant to be around calling us Mr. and Mrs. Hollis, and he's just a great kid.”
Ishak and Lithia continued to sponsor O’Malley when he reached the UFC and O'Malley even shouted them out during the post-fight interview of his first UFC win.
“It was Sean’s first fight after the Contender Series, and he invited us up. Me and my wife flew up there. He gave us a tour through the UFC facility,” Ishak said. “The gloves that he wore on the Contender Series that kind of launched his career. He actually signed and gave me those gloves. I felt guilty and sent them back to his family, but it was a cool gesture.”
Smith has moved on from 221 Industries and mixed martial arts promotion but still follows O'Malley’s career closely.
“I’m proud when I see him. I think a lot of the pro athletes for football, basketball, baseball get a lot of exposure. And you look at a kid from Helena, Montana is the biggest superstar in the world right now,” Smith said. “And yeah, I take some pride in that I put him on some platforms to get him some exposure, but I think he would have found that eventually regardless.”
