Sean O’Malley and Petr Yan | Giuseppe Cacace, AFP via Getty Images
Petr Yan vs. Sean O’Malley looks to be a done deal, but O’Malley isn’t sure that would be the case if Yan had his say.
Saturday’s UFC 333 co-main event featured the conclusion Yan’s trilogy with Merab Dvalishvili, with Yan winning a second consecutive five-round decision over his longtime rival to take their series 2-1. Up next, O’Malley seems like the most likely contender given that he owns a past win over Yan (a controversial split decision from 2022) and his recent victories against top 10-ranked opponents Aiemann Zahabi and Song Yadong.
Reacting to Dvalishvili vs. Yan live on his YouTube channel, O’Malley expressed skepticism that Yan is as excited about their rematch as he is.
“I don’t think Petr Yan lays in bed and shakes and quivers thinking of fighting me,” O’Malley said. “Do I think he loves the idea of fighting me? I don’t know, probably not. I’m a completely different matchup than anybody he fights. He fights guys like Merab, 5’5”. Fights Song, 5’6”. He fights these little guys. Maybe he likes fighting those little guys. I’m big, long, southpaw, orthodox, move a lot. He’s flatfooted.
“He knows the problems that I present to him, so I wouldn’t say Petr Yan’s ducking me or scared. I don’t think he’d pick me if he could choose.”
Perhaps O’Malley is simply engaging in gamesmanship, attempting to bait Yan into saying his name because that didn’t happen during Yan’s post-fight victory speech. When cageside commentator Daniel Cormier interviewed Yan, Cormier mentioned a potential rematch between the champion and Song, who was in attendance at Saturday’s event, and O’Malley was surprised his name wasn’t mentioned.
“I’m surprised Petr didn’t call me out,” O’Malley said. “I don’t know why. It’s the biggest fight to make and if it’s in his eyes, shit, I called ‘Chito’ [Vera] out after I won the belt. Give me the easiest f*cking fight ever—not ever, but I’ll take whoever, but I can pick, I’m champ, I want to fight Chito.”
“DC, I don’t know what he’s thinking, he’s asking about Song Yadong. I’m just trying to wrap my head around it,” O’Malley said. “I’m like, ‘OK, maybe he is next.’ Wait, I beat him like six, seven months ago, whatever the f*ck. I don’t know. I’m fighting Petr Yan next. I don’t care, even if they announce Petr vs. Song, I’m still fighting Petr next. That’s just how much I’m fighting Petr next. I don’t know what they’re talking about, it’s got to be me vs. Petr. Song fought Petr on one of my undercards, when I defended the championship title and Petr beat Song. I beat Petr. I beat Song. It’s got to be me vs. Petr in the United States, early Q2, late Q1, book it.”
O’Malley’s fight with Yan remains controversial to this day, with both men landing hard strikes in their UFC 280 contest, but Yan arguably tilting the action in his favor with several successful takedowns. In the end, two judges saw the fight in O’Malley’s favor.
“Sugar” watched the third Yan-Dvalishvili fight closely, both to admire his peers and to stay focused on the distinct possibility that he will fight Yan again.
“The fact that Petr was able to keep that pace, lose the first two rounds, have a close third round, and then have the momentum swing into the fourth and fifth round, it was legendary,” O’Malley said. “Petr Yan is an absolute legend, so is Merab. But for Petr to go out there and beat him twice like that is legendary.
“He’s the greatest bantamweight of all time and I get this anxiety, this nerve feeling of like, damn, that’s who I’m fighting next. I’m sitting on the couch watching this savage go f*cking 25 minutes with one of the other greatest bantamweights of all time, Merab. It gives me this good anxiety, good nervousness, because if you don’t have that going into fights, it’s harder to get up and train for it. So when you have this feeling, I’m locked in. I’ve been locked in since the last fight knowing that I might be fighting Petr Yan again.”
For the sake of the UFC, O’Malley hopes the Yan rematch happens, because he’s stated many times that he thinks it could be a new peak for the 135-pound division.
“It’s going to be the greatest, the biggest bantamweight fight in UFC history,” O’Malley said. “I don’t know when, I don’t know where, but I know it’s going to happen.”
This second title run didn’t have a whole lot of meaning until now. What a massive win on Volk’s resume. Just an all-time MMA great we are witnessing. And I hate to admit it as an Aldo fan, but if you call him FW GOAT, I ain’t arguing.
OK, I love Jose Aldo as much as the next guy, but it’s time to finally relent and admit Volk is the featherweight GOAT. Incredible performance to have at age 38. One of one. #UFC333
