Sean O’Malley is ready to get back inside of the Octagon and is hoping to meet current UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili in a title fight rematch sometime in the middle of this year.
In case you forgot, O’Malley lost his title in a unanimous decision loss to Dvalishvili back at UFC 306 this past September. It was only O’Malley’s second career loss and the first since a TKO defeat at the hands of Marlon Vera back in 2020. O’Malley still believes he did enough to defend his title at UFC 306, but the judges and majority of UFC fans know he lost that fight.
O’Malley is planning for big things in 2025. Just a few weeks ago, the popular UFC fighter announced that he plans to “detox” from social media in effort to focus solely on his UFC career and being a father. The former UFC champion is also coming off hip surgery, but by the sounds of it O’Malley plans to return to the Octagon sooner than originally expected.
Earlier this week, O’Malley was in Japan for RIZIN’s stacked “Decade” card. O’Malley helped ring in the festivities and stated that he had the best trip of his life. During his stay, “Suga” spoke with RIZIN TV and was asked about his return to the cage. O’Malley is hoping that Dvalishvili successfully defends his UFC bantamweight title against Umar Nurmagomedov at the upcoming UFC 311 card later this month so the two can run it back in Q2-Q3.
Check it out below:
“Ideally, Merab beats Umar and I get the rematch,” said O’Malley. “But if Umar wins, it’ll be Umar. That’s what I want next is a title fight.
“Hopefully mid next year against the winner of that one.”
