Sean O'Malley breaks his silence following lackluster performance at UFC 306 and is called out by former two-weight world champion
15/09/2024 19:12
This past Saturday at the UFC’s monumental Noche event at the Sphere, Merab Dvalishvili dethroned Sean O’Malley to become the new bantamweight champion.
Sean O’Malley‘s 13-month title reign came to an abrupt end this past Saturday in the UFC’s biggest event ever, at the Sphere.
Merab Dvalishvili once again lived up to his nickname, weaponizing his cardio and dominating ‘Suga’ for five rounds, coming out relatively unscathed and the new king of the bantamweight division.
Sean O’Malley breaks his silence with 8-word statement
O’Malley was scheduled to speak with the media following his loss but he didn’t end up speaking with them and instead, broke his silence with a statement online.
“Over promised and under delivered. Sorry. Love you guys,” O’Malley briefly wrote on his X page.
The 29-year-old was and likely still is one of the promotion’s biggest active stars but his performance showed that he still has clear holes in his game despite his stardom.
Dvalishvili’s relentless wrestling proved too much for the sniper, which is something we haven’t seen throughout O’Malley’s 13-fight UFC career.
Knowing that his wrestling defense was nowhere near as strong as it needed to be, ‘Suga’ also jokingly posted a video of him practicing his wrestling sprawls just a few hours removed from his title loss.
Despite being a superstar, the occasion seemingly got to O’Malley as he never seemed to get going during the fight and even UFC CEO Dana White claimed O’Malley looked flat throughout.
What’s next for Sean O’Malley as he’s called out by Henry Cejudo
Having only accumulated one title defense, O’Malley will likely have to string together a few wins before he is given another shot at the belt.
Undefeated phenom, Umar Nurmagomedov is seemingly next in line, despite ‘The Machine’ stating that he would like to make his first title defense against former flyweight champion, Deiveson Figueiredo.
The title fight between Merab and Nurmagomedov likely won’t happen till at least the first quarter of next year, meaning that Figueiredo might even need another win of his own to secure a title shot.
With there already being somewhat of a history between O’Malley and the Brazilian, that is a fight that could make sense next for both fighters, with the winner possibly earning the shot after the Russian.
A fight that could very well prepare O’Malley for a fight against either Dvalishvili or Nurmagomedov, is a fight against Henry Cejudo.
‘Suga’ has been extremely open with his hatred towards ‘Triple C’, and with Cejudo looking for a big comeback fight, it could make sense for both fighters moving forward.
“Hey O’Methyl… You wanted to be the next Conor McGregor-well now you are. Neither of you bums can defend a takedown. I’m teaching “Wrestling for Cokeheads” at 8 AM. See you in the morning,” Cejudo posted on X.
