The friendship between Jake Paul and Sean O'Malley has been anything but ordinary. From initially wanting to fight each other to becoming business partners with Paul's "W" fragrance, their relationship has been a rollercoaster. But facing a shark in the open ocean was a twist nobody saw coming.
The Shark Encounter
Jake Paul was filming a video with Sean O'Malley and Rubi Rose when a shark snuck up on them in the open sea. In the commercial, Paul and O'Malley are relaxing in the middle of the water on floaties while Rubi Rose is perched nearby on a jet ski. It all appears calm until O'Malley notices a shark.
"There's a f***ing shark. There's a shark," O'Malley yells with fear. Paul looks toward the boat, but Rose was already high-tailing it out of there to get away from the shark. What happened next was a striking turn of events, as their new friend and business partner left the two fighters stranded on innertubes looking like lunch meat to the hungry shark.
"Shark encounter. I thought I was tough at first then reality set in," Jake Paul captioned the post. The YouTuber-turned-boxer found his life at risk, but not from the fists of Iron Mike Tyson or his upcoming opponent Mike Perry.
O'Malley's Rivalries and Aspirations
O’Malley has had his share of rivalries. He’s ruffled the feathers of Marlon “Chito” Vera and Aljamain Sterling to name a couple.In a recent appearance on “The Ariel Helwani Show,” O’Malley said he realized that his face tattoos were “embarrassing” after seeing Garbrandt’s new look during a UFC Fight Night event in Atlanta. The comment was made in response to Garbrandt trashing O’Malley’s performance in his rematch against Merab Dvalishvili.
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Former UFC champion Sean O'Malley admits he strayed from being himself and instead tried to emulate Conor McGregor. O'Malley (18-3 MMA, 10-3 UFC) has never shied away from comparisons to the former champ-champ McGregor, and in fact believed he was closing in on the Irishman's star power.
"One hundred percent (I viewed McGregor as a role model)," O'Malley said on "Between Rounds." "The way he carried himself into fights, the confidence to say what he thought was going to happen - 'I'm going to knock this dude out in Round 2.' I got a lot out of that. I was like, 'OK, I can be confident like that.' I feel like I got lost, almost, in a sense, where I wanted to be like Conor too much instead of being like myself."
While McGregor provided a different confidence for O'Malley, he now recognizes that in trying to follow what "The Notorious" did during his time on top, he pushed himself further away from being the same "goofy" guy he's always been.
Trying to be like McGregor worked for O'Malley for a little while. However, he recognized a change in the lead up to UFC 306, where O'Malley first faced Merab Dvalishvili.
"That was my second title defense, and I was like, 'I want this to be big,'" O'Malley said. "I didn't feel like it was big. I didn't feel like Merab was a big name. I had to force it. It was at The Sphere. I felt like I had to create something and I didn't like how that made me feel, in a sense, because I didn't hate Merab. I would have loved to knock him out. ... I feel like I made that one too personal, and I didn't like that - but that kind of the only time I really forced anything. The 'Chito' beef I felt was real. I didn't like that. That was a real one, but the Merab one I feel like I forced a little bit."
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Since losing the title, O'Malley has done a lot of self-reflection. He's changed a few habits, including removing all social media from his phone to provide fewer distractions. He doesn't intend to abandon what got him to the top completely, but now it's about approaching it with a balance that works best for him as he looks to get back on track.
"I do think there's an entertainment aspect that UFC people need to kinda do to become a superstar," O'Malley said. "You gotta be yourself, and then you can add on to that a little bit. Yeah, finding that balance. There's not someone there to teach you."
Paul Accepts O'Malley's Challenge
Jake Paul has accepted UFC Bantamweight Champion ‘Suga’ Sean O’Malley’s challenge to fight the boxer in an MMA bout and “save” UFC 303.
UFC 303 has been under intense scrutiny leading up to the June 29 event, with rumors circulating that the big match between Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler won’t happen. Ariel Helwani claims that the bout is “very much in limbo,” and the UFC are either looking for someone else to battle Chandler or book a whole new fight.
Jake Paul was scheduled to make his MMA debut in 2024, but his plans seem to have been thrown into limbo given the Mike Tyson situation.
Read also: Details of the Tyson vs. Jake Paul Matchup