Saturday night at UFC 306 Noche UFC, Sean O’Malley lost his bantamweight championship to Merab Dvalishvili in a unanimous decision. O’Malley had one successful title defense against Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera in March. O’Malley won the title in August 2023 by knockout against Aljamain Sterling.
O’Malley said he suffered a torn labrum before his championship fight against Dvalishvili. He is scheduled to undergo surgery to repair the issue on Oct. 3. He said on his podcast that he likely will be out for 10 months up until a year.
“It’s gonna feel good to take a legit break to get fully healthy,” O’Malley said on his podcast ‘The Timbo SugarShow.’
O’Malley has been active lately, fighting three times in the last 13 months. Even if he was fully healthy, an immediate rematch was highly unlikely since he wasn’t a long-reigning champion. The new champion, Dvalishvili, has called out former flyweight champion and No. 5 bantamweight contender Deiveson Figueiredo to be his first challenger. Even though Dvalishvili hasn’t said he wants to face No. 2 Umar Nurmagomedov next, that will likely be the next matchup.
When O’Malley returns from injury, he will need to have at least one fight against a top contender before being considered for another shot at the title. As I previously mentioned in my ‘What’s Next for Merab Dvalishvili’ article, a perfect fight for O’Malley is to return against No. 4 Cory Sandhagen. Both fighters are two of the most talented strikers in the division and would be an interesting contest.
Although we saw Dvalishvili highlight and exploit O’Malley’s weaknesses, he is still one of the most exciting and entertaining fighters in the sport. When he fights, more often than not, he stays true to his saying: ‘The Suga Show.’
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