Sean O’Malley has revealed his return date and ideal opponent.
The former bantamweight champion has been sidelined since losing his title to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306, which took place at the Las Vegas Sphere in September.
Petr Yan, who is also an ex-UFC titleholder at 135lbs, has been teasing a fight with Sean O’Malley ever since he beat Deiveson Figueiredo in the UFC Macau main event last month.
‘No Mercy’ suffered an extremely controversial split decision defeat when he fought O’Malley in October 2022, and now he wants to chance to put it right as soon as possible.
Why is Sean O’Malley sidelined?
Sean O’Malley revealed that he was set to undergo hip surgery after UFC 306.
The operation is expected to keep him out for around nine months, which has led to his long-time rival jokingly speculating that there’s another reason for his MMA absence.
“I would lean towards a rematch with Sean O’Malley, but I don’t know what’s going on with him,” Yan said via a translator during an interview with Ariel Helwani.
“He’s out for 9-12 months, so maybe he got pregnant… Understand as you wish.”
Footage of Yan’s bizarre statement quickly went viral on social media.
The Russian reposted a clip of his comment, with the caption: “When is your due date? @SugaSeanMMA.”
O’Malley replied to him in a serious manner. ‘Suga’ claimed he would most likely return in April for a rematch with Dvalishvili that would leave Yan without an opponent.
The bantamweight title picture
It’s currently unclear who will get the next shot at Dvalishvili’s title.
O’Malley is ranked #1 at 135lbs, but he’s fresh off a lopsided decision loss to the Georgian fighter, who may not want to wait until the second quarter of 2025 for a rematch.
Umar Nurmagomedov is next in line, according to the rankings. However, Khabib Nurmagomedov’s cousin has just one ranked win over Cory Sandhagen to his name. Many people, including the champion, believe he must do more to earn a title shot.
Yan is ranked #3 at bantamweight. Like O’Malley, he was dominated by Dvalishvili when they fought in March 2023, but two wins and almost two years later he feels he could put up a much better fight in a rematch.
Everyone else ranked in the 135lb top seven suffered defeat in their last fight.
UFC boss Dana White certainly has a tough task on his hands.
O’Malley, Nurmagomedov, Yan, and MMA fans are impatiently waiting for his official decision.