MMA News: Sean O’Malley doesn’t want to fight in New York, not even for Frankie Edgar

Despite being offered a winnable marquee fight against a future Ultimate Fighting Championship Hall-of-Famer — in Madison Square Garden no less — Sean O’Malley is still not going to fight in New York.

The colorful-haired star bantamweight made headlines earlier in the month when he went public about a rift between him and UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby over an attempt to book him UFC 268 in New York City. The 26-year-old wasn’t interested in the idea and explained why on his podcast when he said, Dude, I don’t want to fight in New York. It’s far. The taxes are ridiculous.”

Well, based on a new interview with ” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>The Schmo, all the issues between O’Malley (14-1) and Shelby have been squashed. However, he still isn’t fighting in New York, and being offered the chance to face tri-state legend and former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar still wasn’t nearly enough to convince “Sugar” to do so.

Sean O’Malley really doesn’t want to fight in NYC

I feel like I’m in a position where if you want me to fight in New York, and I don’t want to fight in New York, I’m not gonna fight in New York, said O’Malley (h/t BJPenn). I’m in that position, and I had that conversation, and we’re good now.”

But yeah, I got offered a fight in New York against Frankie, and I said if Frankie wants to get whooped, he can get whooped in Vegas in December, a month later. They want Frankie to fight in New York, so they gave him [Marlon Vera]. Getting the ‘Suga Show’ against Frankie would’ve been a great fight for me, but I’m not too worried about it.

Frankie Edgar vs Marlon Vera will take place at UFC 268 on November 6 in New York. The card is headlined by a welterweight title rematch between champion Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington.

Did O’Malley miss out on a major opportunity in passing up a fight with Edgar in MSG?