Despite a contentious split decision victory over Petr Yan in 2020 and a call out by the fighter last week, Sean O’Malley has clarified he has no interest in revisiting that fight. Instead, Suga’s targeting a rematch against bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili, the man who dethroned him.
But he’s not fighting anyone in his condition right now. O’Malley is recovering from hip surgery at the moment and will take at least six more months before making a return to the octagon.
The champion Dvalishvili is also on a break, after repeatedly refusing to entertain a fight with #2 contender Umar Nurmagomedov, and is expected to be back in February or March to fight, which puts the UFC in a precarious position.
If Dvalishvili fights in the first quarter of the year, he gets neither Umar nor O’Malley, which leaves him to contend with Yan, a fight he seems to have already welcomed.
LFG @PetrYanUFC – March 8th #UFC313 T Mobile , Las Vegas -⚔️ @Stake pic.twitter.com/fn5y0Peses
— Merab “The Machine” Dvalishvili (@MerabDvalishvil) November 23, 2024
Regardless of how that fight goes, it’s unlikely whoever the champion is will return to fight a few months later in the second quarter of the year, like O’Malley wants.
I predict it will be early Q2. Against Merab. Thanks for asking. https://t.co/igEkdTCVO4
— Sean O’Malley (@SugaSeanMMA) December 3, 2024
‘Sugar‘ wants his belt back at any cost because even though he lost the fight at UFC: Nohche fair and square, he has been laboring under the delusion that he won 3 out of 5 rounds.
Sean O’Malley’s not letting go of the ‘1, 3, 5’ narrative anytime soon
(via @TimwelchMT) pic.twitter.com/AMNFLf6cwN
— Full Violence ™ (@Full_Violence) September 21, 2024
The concept of controversial ending fights is not new to O’Malley. His entire feud with Yan stems from the very fact that he got a decision win over him the first time they fought at UFC 280. Yan has since been wanting to get his rematch with O’Malley.
However, all of these personal feuds leave the young Nurmagomedov in a bizarre fix.
What’s next for Umar?
With 18-0-0 already to his name, Umar wants to break his cousin Khabib’s 29-0 record. That’s the competition he’s chasing. And if the bantamweight title fight happens along the way, he’s happy to add to his already impressive cabinet of medallions.
After defeating Cory Sandhagen at a UFC Fight Night in August, Umar had called out Dvalishvili. That was the first time he had done so. In the months since then, the #2 UFC bantamweight has asked Dvalishvili for a title shot, only to be refused repeatedly by the champion.
Dvalishvili also has a good reason for not taking the fight. He last fought in September and Umar wanted a December timeline, which didn’t sit well with him.
Merab has since proposed a fight in February or March, which coincides with the holy month of Ramzan. So Umar can’t fight during this time. Then there’s O’Malley and Yan waiting already queueing up for his title shot.
Initially disheartened, Umar has now made his stance clear. He will fight anybody as long as it’s soon. Speaking to Gorrila Energy, he said,
“Anyone, even if it’s King Kong – let them make weight and we’ll fight. I really don’t care – I don’t want to wait for these guys . I have my own goal, I’m going to be the greatest, so I have to be active!”
This is not dissimilar to the problems Islam Makhachev faced when he was coming up in the lightweight division where champions would make him wait. All fighters with solid ground games go through this at some point in their careers. Thankfully, Umar has at least two people in his camp who have been in the same foxholes as he finds himself in right now.
