Sean O’Malley got a glimpse of the UFC’s preparation for the upcoming White House event, and what he saw has left the former bantamweight champion buzzing. Current reports indicate that an estimated $60 million budget is being used to build an arena on the South Lawn of the most iconic venue in the world, which alone changes how you approach a fight. Now add weather risks, Secret Service protocols, and no clear blueprint for how any of this is supposed to work, and suddenly it feels like a different realm entirely.

O’Malley, who’s set to feature on the card in a clash against Aiemann Zahabi, spoke about the event on an episode of his ‘BroMalley Show’ podcast. And he made it clear the buzz inside the UFC is real, even if the details are still unclear.

“I was in Vegas this weekend, talked to a lot of the UFC people, a lot of UFC staff are like this is going to be insane,” Suga said. “It’s gonna be insane there. They were like kind of giving me like a little rundown, nothing really that I could share, but just their excitement is what I was taking away.”

“They’re kind of working on the stadium right now, like they can’t build it too soon because it can’t just be sitting in the f— White House too long. That’s gonna be interesting. It’s like if it’s outside and it rains, we’re not fighting. We’re gonna move the fight date, supposedly. I don’t know. I think that’s what they’re saying. They’re like, hey, if it rains like we’re gonna… I don’t know how the weigh-ins are gonna work. I mean, it’s not commissioned, so I think you can get away with different stuff. I’m gonna start doing my sparring rounds in the sauna.”

That might sound light, but it reflects a real adjustment. Fighters train for controlled environments. This won’t be one. Security is another layer. With the White House involved, O’Malley expects restrictions unlike anything he’s experienced. “The secret service alone is going to be insane,” he said, adding that he doesn’t even know if family members will be allowed inside. For a card this exclusive, that uncertainty matters. Fighters usually rely on their teams and a close circle during fight week. Here, even that could change.

Despite all that, Sean O’Malley sees an opportunity if the promotion manages to pull it off without a hitch. He even floated the idea of something like the Colosseum next. It sounds ambitious, but that’s exactly what this event is trying to test.

This card already includes big names like Alex Pereira vs. Ciryl Gane for an interim heavyweight title, Ilia Topuria vs Justin Gaethje for the lightweight title unification, along with rising and established fighters across divisions. There’s also a $1 million crypto bonus pool on the line, the biggest in UFC history, which adds another layer of urgency to every fight.

But beyond the matchups, this event is about execution. Sean O’Malley summed it up best when he said he’s excited for the “chaos” and the challenge of adapting. Yet, there’s one man who isn’t happy with ‘Suga’ for this event, and that is Cory Sandhagen.

Cory Sandhagen lays out his issues with Sean O’Malley not pushing for a fight against him at the White House

For Cory Sandhagen, the frustration is about a missed moment. The bantamweight division has been circling a potential clash between him and Sean O’Malley for a while now, especially with both fighters sitting near the top of the rankings and a lot of fan interest due to their fighting styles. Instead, the UFC booked O’Malley against Aiemann Zahabi for the White House card, and that decision didn’t sit well with ‘The Sandman’.

Speaking to MMA Fighting, Sandhagen made it clear he believes there was a better way to handle the situation.

“No, I mean the proper response — when you know that there’s a fight that everyone wants to see you fight in – the proper response when the UFC calls you and says, ‘Hey, we want to do you and so and so,’ you go, ‘Hey, what about this person?” the UFC star shared. “That’s who the people want to see, that’s the proper response in that situation, and that’s not what he gave. So, it sucks. I mean, it just sucks for everyone.”

Sandhagen said he isn’t too upset personally since the fight wouldn’t have changed his contract or pay, but he’s disappointed for the fans because it was a matchup people clearly wanted. He also added that, in his view, the right move would’ve been for O’Malley to push for that fight when the UFC called, even if it wasn’t initially offered.

Yes, O’Malley could have asked for the fight, but there’s no guarantee the UFC would have granted his wish. The White House event is essentially a non-profit for the TKO branch. By their COO Mark Shapiro’s own admission, they are spending upwards of $60M and hope to earn some of it back through branding.

So, apart from the few big fights at the top, it’s in their best interest to save the big names for cards they can monetize to the maximum. That’s the same reason why Conor McGregor is supposedly fighting in July at the International Fight Week, instead of the White House. And if O’Malley can get the job done on June 14, a clash with Sandhagen could go down sometime later this year.