BKFC champion Kai Stewart, despite having past tensions with UFC fighter Sean O’Malley over a direct message from 2020, is open to the idea of a future crossover fight between them, embracing the prospect of two top fighters from Montana settling their differences in the ring.
BKFC champion Kai Stewart wasn’t actively seeking a fight with fellow Montanan Sean O’Malley. But now? He’s kinda into the idea.
As Stewart gears up to defend his title against UFC vet Jimmie Rivera, he touched on his beef with O’Malley. This all started back at UFC 292, when O’Malley snagged the bantamweight belt. During a post-fight chat, someone mentioned Stewart’s name, and O’Malley’s response was pretty blunt: “That kid sucks… he’s in my DMs talking shit; I don’t even know this kid.”
Turns out, that DM was from way back in 2020. Yet somehow, O’Malley remembered it.
“So the DM in question was from 2020,” Stewart explained to MMA Fighting. “This was 2023 when he beat [Aljamain Sterling].” Apparently, Stewart had messaged about his friend Myles Mazurkiewicz, who’d beaten O’Malley as an amateur wrestler.
Stewart insists that was the only message he ever sent. And yet, it left a mark. Funny how things stick.
Adding to the drama, Stewart shared that O’Malley’s team once offered him a chance to fight one of O’Malley’s training partners. The catch? A $20,000 bonus if he won. But Stewart wasn’t about to risk his BKFC title for a fight like that. Nope.
“They said, ‘Sean O’Malley will give you $20,000 if you can sign up and fight against our guy and win,'” Stewart recalled. “I was like obviously I’m not giving up my world title to fight a 1-0 pro fighter in MMA.”
Despite the tension, Stewart still cheers for O’Malley during his fights. Montana pride runs deep.
“I’ve rooted for him every single fight,” Stewart admitted. He even backed O’Malley against Merab Dvalishvili, despite thinking Merab could win.
“Montana to the moon,” he added. But if there’s beef? Let’s handle it the Montana way.
It’s wild to think of Stewart and O’Malley fighting since they’re in different promotions and sports. Yet with Conor McGregor now owning BKFC and suggesting crossover bouts with the UFC, who knows?
“Conor posted recently about doing crossovers with Dana [White],” Stewart noted. He’s game for a showdown anywhere—135, 145, MMA, bare-knuckle—you name it.
For now, it’s all in O’Malley’s hands. Meanwhile, Stewart’s open to whatever comes next.
“If there’s any beef,” he reiterated, “it’s the Montana way; let’s just take care of it.”