For years, Conor McGregor and Sean O’Malley seemed to share a bond of mutual admiration. O’Malley had often praised McGregor, even calling him his “idol” on multiple occasions. But, as we’ve seen many times in the fight game, relationships can turn on a dime, and this one did just that. So, what happened between these two UFC stars?

The spark that ignited the rift came from an unexpected place—Ryan Garcia. When the boxer tested positive for Ostarine, a banned substance, after his fight with Devin Haney, the Irishman went on a tirade on social media that also engulfed Sean O’Malley. However, according to a recent report, the UFC’s bantamweight champion has left all other champions in the dust and laid all doubts to rest when it comes to being tested in 2024!

Sean O’Malley tested more than any other champion in the UFC in 2024 so far

In Conor McGregor’s now-deleted posts on X, he called for a lifetime ban for Ryan Garcia and threw a sharp jab at O’Malley, who also tested positive for Ostarine back in 2018 and later for trace amounts of the same substance in 2019. The Irishman had stated, “I’ll bust yous both up, do yous want a spar? I will set flights right now for you both for a full-on spar each … Two little Ostarine heads.”

But was the violation really that serious? According to Jeff Novitzky, UFC’s vice president of athlete health and performance at the time, “Had [Sean O’Malley] been a Major League Baseball player, this would not have been reported out as a positive test,” as he indicated that O’Malley’s test results were under a threshold of 50 picograms per milliliter. This might be also why the fighter only served 6 months of suspension in both instances of his positive tests.

Now, in a recent post shared on X by Jed I. Goodman, it was revealed that Sean O’Malley has been tested 6 times already in 2024. Impressive right? It’s even more so when you consider that it’s only September at the time of writing and the closest competitors on the list to ‘Suga’ are Dricus Du Plessis, Islam Makhachev, and Tom Aspinall, all with 5 tests under their belts.

With the controversy now seemingly laid to rest, it’s important to note that Sean O’Malley has always maintained his innocence over the issue. But the question still lingers, what exactly led to his positive test for the banned substance?

O’Malley breaks down the bizarre sequence of events behind his positive test 

With Conor McGregor seemingly not having let go of Sean O’Malley’s issues with Ostarine, the UFC bantamweight champion recently shed some more light on what exactly led to his troubles. On an episode of the ‘Timbo Sugar Show’ podcast, he explained, “I remember when it happened my levels were so low, the scientists were like, it has to be a tainted supplement. They tested all the supplements I was taking at the time and there was nothing in there.”

Strange right? ‘Suga’ further shared that “Tanquinho, and Kyler (Phillips), we all trained at the same gym, all tested (positive), all levels so f****** low, none of us took anything, we all swore on our lives.” This prompted him to ask USADA and the promotion if there was a chance that the chemical could be transmitted through sweat. While at the time they denied the possibility of it happening, things changed due to recent studies.

‘Suga’ shared that, “…someone was sharing knee bands, they tested (positive) for Ostarine and they tested the knee band. It came back that Ostarine and those kinds of tainted supplements can be through sweat exchange.” As O’Malley explained, the situation wasn’t as black-and-white as it seemed. And with him being heavily tested in 2024, it looks like Conor McGregor may need some new ammunition if he chooses to continue their ‘feud’ in the future! What are your thoughts on the entire saga so far? Let us know in the comments below.