Sean O’Malley has already been called out twice since losing his rematch to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 316.
The former UFC Bantamweight Champion was unable to recapture his title upon his return on Saturday. Sean O’Malley had a torn labrum surgery following his unanimous decision loss to Dvalishvili at UFC 306 in September, taking 8 months in between to focus on his rehabilitation and revenge on Dvalishvili.
Despite ‘dialing in’ for a 70% better performance and putting together quite the training camp with all-time greats Demetrious Johnson and Israel Adesanya, O’Malley failed to knock out Dvalishvili and tapped out to a submission in round 3 of the title fight.
O’Malley is still one of the UFC’s most massive names after back-to-back losses to Dvalishvili and ex-rivals like Aljamain Sterling wouldn’t mind getting his hands on ‘Suga’.
A former two-division champion on the verge of retirement is the latest to call out O’Malley following UFC 316.
Henry Cejudo wants a ‘tune-up’ in Sean O’Malley for UFC retirement fight
An Olympic Gold Medalist in freestyle wrestling as well as a UFC ‘champ-champ’, Henry Cejudo has campaigned to fight O’Malley for several years now.
A slayer of Demetrious Johnson, TJ Dillashaw and Dominick Cruz, ‘Triple C’ is currently on a three-fight losing streak and is looking to retire in his next UFC fight.
Cejudo, 38, took a swipe at O’Malley by mocking his ‘no-fap’ mentality and his open marriage.
“Hey Sean – You should’ve stroked the cord before the fight and let your wife’s bf record it,” Cejudo wrote on ‘X’.
“Anyways, I’m still looking for a tune up.
“Siblings fight all the time – Let’s give Merab a Father’s Day present he will never forget.
“What do you say precious @SugaSeanMMA.”
Henry Cejudo and Sean O’Malley both have losses to Merab Dvalishvili
Along with being a former bantamweight champion, Cejudo shares a common defeat with O’Malley.
After retiring in 2020, Cejudo returned three years later in a title fight against Aljamain Sterling. Cejudo lost to Sterling via split decision and later fought Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 299 in 2024.
Cejudo rocked Dvalishvili with a punch early in the fight, but Dvalishvili came back to outwrestle the former Olympian to secure a decision victory.
Cejudo said prior to the fight he’d retire again if he lost. However, Cejudo didn’t stick to his word and proceeded to lose his vision in his latest fight with Song Yadong where he got hit by a double eye-poke which led to a technical decision loss.