Sean O’Malley might find himself at the back of the line following a debilitating second title loss to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 316, but the former champion seems to be in good spirits regardless.
‘Suga’ will now have to fight the other top contenders in the division and prove that he can at least provide a credible challenge at the top of the pecking order against top grapplers. It’s a daunting task, but O’Malley isn’t drowning himself in those thoughts right now.
Amidst rumors that he’s moving up in weight and retirement rumors to complement them, ‘Suga’ hopped on The Ariel Helwani Show to talk about his future in the sport. While in conversation with Helwani, he also claimed to not have been very affected by his loss to ‘The Machine.’
“This (his children) makes a loss a lot easier to deal with, coming home to a healthy family,” ‘Suga‘ said as he cradled his second child in his arms.
Not just that, but also not having the pressure of losing the title or the thought of having to undergo surgery after the fight, made it a lot easier for him.
The first time he lost to ‘The Machine,’ he had to handle both the feeling of losing the title, as well as having to go for a hip surgery he had been postponing for some time.
In fact, he had even claimed that the injury had been a hindrance to his movements inside the octagon. Notably, not only had he recovered this time around, O’Malley had also logged off social media and stopped smoking weed and masturbating to complement his UFC 316 camp.
Unfortunately, despite the dedication, he somehow looked worse for the wear as Merab choked him out with a D’Arce to retain the title.
O’Malley has no excuses for second defeat
Interestingly, O’Malley is not making any excuses for his shortcomings against the Georgian champion. And when Ariel Helwani asked him what went wrong, the American fighter simply noted that Merab’s style of fighting was antithetical to his.
The Suga Show will return in 2025 — it’s just a matter of when and against who ️ #UFC316 #HelwaniShow pic.twitter.com/gKnhQFnfDi
— Uncrowned (@uncrownedcombat) June 16, 2025
“I had a great camp, I was able to wrestle…I went in there very confident, very ready to go.” O’Malley admitted that on that day, Merab was indeed the better fighter.
Regardless, he is not going to give up; the former champion is treating this loss as a bump in the road. ‘Suga’ still backs himself to become one of the greatest Mixed Martial Artists to have ever lived. However, he will need to make some drastic changes to his game if that is indeed still his plan for the future.
