Sunday night, the Ultimate Fighting Championship came to Washington, D.C., for fights featuring some of the sport’s biggest names, including Helena native and former UFC bantamweight champion “Suga” Sean O’Malley. The UFC Freedom 250 event has also been at the center of political controvers y due to the fight’s venue: the White House South Lawn. While the fights were meant to celebrate the country’s history and honor veterans, Sunday was also President Donald Trump’s birthday. Despite all the hubbub, Freedom 250 has a direct Montana tie we wanted to highlight. O’Malley’s father, Dan O’Malley, still resides in Helena and spoke with MTFP about his son and his participation in the card of fights at the White House. This QA was published last week in the Lowdown newsletter before O’Malley won his fight in the second round against Aiemann Zahabi. Dan’s comments have been lightly edited for length and clarity. MTFP: Walk us through how Sean first got into fighting? Dan:  So, fortunately for me, I have four kids. All of them are super good athletes. Sean was particularly amazing in sports, just one of those gifted kids. He was always kind of the little kid on the team. And come around his sophomore year, he told me that he wasn’t a huge fan of organized sports.   He said, “Dad, I wanna do a sport one-on-one where I can show my own talent rather than being on a team.”  So I told him, “Yeah, what do you wanna do?” And he said he wants to box, which I thought was hilarious ’cause out of the three boys, he is the most timid, non-confrontational kid of all of them.  We had a friend named [Ray Moore]. He was a Golden Gloves boxer, and he lived kind of up in the hills in North Valley in Helena. I would drive Sean up there for a couple weeks, and about the second week into it, the coach said, “Dan, I’ve never seen anybody with this speed and this much power.”  MTFP: From Helena to the White House, how does Sean reflect on making it big? Dan:  Sean just fought in front of three million people [in 2023] when he beat [Aljamain Sterling] and won the belt to make him the greatest in the world, and there’s a lot of pressure there. Two weeks later, we’re at Grizzly Stadium [in Missoula]. Sean and I, we have to hide in the back of the weight room because it’s supposed to be a surprise who comes out and raises the flag. There are 19,000 people at Grizzly Stadium. Sean looked at me and said, “Dad, you need to get me a shot [of alcohol].” Hardly ever does Sean drink.   He’s like, “I am so nervous because I wanna do so good for Montana that I wanna be a little more calm when I come out there.”   He’s a Montanan kid, and he wants to perform for all Montanans, and he’s super proud to be a Montanan. When he called and told me, “Pack your bag for the White House.” As a dad, you could feel all the excitement in his voice, but Sean likes to be super chill. Like, it was not that big a deal, but you could tell Sean was super jacked. Sean’s super excited to represent the United States of America.  Sean O’Malley poses with former Montana player Braxton Hill at a football game in 2023. Credit: Dan O’Malley MTFP: What has Sean shared with you about the politics and pushback surrounding Sunday’s event?  Dan:  Really, we haven’t gotten into it. Sean is probably the least political guy you’ll ever meet. I don’t think he knows the difference between a Democrat and a Republican.   As far as politics go, I read the articles, too. I see there’s a lawsuit that they’re trying to stop it. That frustrates me. I think the general public needs to know that Sean O’Malley is fighting in front of the White House on the lawn, and it’s the same damn house that Obama and Clinton and Biden lived in. Now Trump lives there. Sean’s not a huge Trump supporter. Sean’s not doing this on Trump’s behalf. Sean’s doing this as a professional elite athlete.   When people yell and scream about this, to me, if you don’t wanna watch it, don’t watch it, and that’s Sean’s attitude. I’m not telling anybody to come watch the fight. If they don’t want to, I’ll understand. I appreciate their respect for their political views, but if you don’t wanna watch it, don’t watch the damn thing.  The post Sean O’Malley has never stopped being a Montana kid appeared first on Montana Free Press. ...read more read less