Sean O'Malley knows he must become 'undeniable' to earn another UFC title shot, teases fight news soon

Yahoo

4 hours ago

Sean O'Malley has lost back-to-back fights for the first time in his MMA career.
The former UFC bantamweight champion seems to have met his kryptonite in the form of Georgia's Merab Dvalishvili. After taking O'Malley's title with a lopsided unanimous decision this past September, Dvalishvili was even more dominant in the recent rematch at UFC 316, submitting O'Malley with a north-south choke in the third round.
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O'Malley, 30, is now in a difficult spot at bantamweight, owning consecutive losses to the reigning champion. Speaking on Monday's edition of "The Ariel Helwani Show," O'Malley kept his expectations realistic regarding a path back to another UFC title shot.
"I feel like for me to earn another shot at Merab, I've got to be undeniable," Dvalishvili said. "I have to go on a streak. I have to win a lot of fights in a row, and there's a world that happens. I definitely know I'm capable of beating Merab. I also know he's capable of beating me. There's going to be part of me that always wants to get that one back. He's the only guy to ever beat me. [Marlon] 'Chito' [Vera] beat me, but I got that one back. I proved that one played out the way it was supposed to the first time.
"So that one [against Dvalishvili], I don't want to say bugs me because, at the end of the day, if I play out my career and I never get that one back, I'll be happy with how everything played out. But there's a world where I'm undeniable and get that one back.
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"I'm happy for him," O'Malley added of Dvalishvili. "At the end of the day, I don't hold anything [against him]. Merab's f***ing on a crazy streak right now. He's the greatest bantamweight of all time."
In truth, the best-case scenario for O'Malley would likely be for Dvalishvili to drop the title in his next fight, no matter the challenger. That way, the door swings right back open for O'Malley and there's no need to move up in weight in order to expedite his championship aspirations.
O'Malley has always been open to the idea of eventually moving to the 145-pound featherweight class, he said. But despite the championship roadblock he now faces at bantamweight, the former champ still prefers to stick with the weight class that's been his longtime home.
"I wouldn't say immediate future," O'Malley said of a potential featherweight move. "I was talking to [coach] Tim [Welch] about that the other day. It's like, I can make [135 pounds]. It sucks, I suffer, I die. Everyone does it. They get down to their weight.
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"I know I'm stronger than I felt in there, but I don't know how much [stronger], if losing a certain amount of muscle makes sense to get to '35 for me. But I don't know. Still, definitely [my] next fight will be at '35, for sure. But eventually, someday, yeah, I think we'll move up.
"[The cuts are] all always equally as hard," he added. "They're all nine, 10 out of 10 hard. You're on the brink of f***ing feeling like you're going to die, but you get there. We get there."
Unlike the first Dvalishvili loss last year, O'Malley came out of the rematch relatively unscathed. He feels healthy and pretty good overall, but reiterates that fighters are never truly at 100% for any fight. Still, a quicker return can be expected for the former champion this time.
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Though reluctant to share the name, O'Malley confirmed has a name in mind of who he'd ideally like to fight next. He teased potential fight news soon, so now it's just a waiting game.
"One hundred percent, I'll fight again this year. The question is when," O'Malley said. "To be determined. We'll see how things play out.
"I'm going to see how this week goes. I gave myself a solid week, 10 days, to just kind of relax, and I'm going to see how I feel this week. I don't have an answer for you right now, but I'm going to see how I feel this week."