[autotag]Sean O’Malley[/autotag] entered 2024 believing he could attain Conor McGregor’s level of stardom. After UFC 306, that possibility has all but faded away.
O’Malley lost the bantamweight championship to Merab Dvalishvili this past Saturday in the UFC 306 main event at Sphere in Las Vegas. Over the course of 25 minutes, Dvalishvili mostly imposed his will as he repeatedly took down and smothered O’Malley, en route to a unanimous decision win.
While O’Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) declined to speak with reporters on fight night, he reacted to the loss Monday during an episode of his “TimboSugarShow” podcast with Tim Welch and said he learned an important lesson that hit him immediately afterward.
“I think it’s good to be confident in your skills, but I overpromised, underdelivered,” O’Malley said. “That was the first thing that went through my head. Like, f*ck.”
To many observers, O’Malley appeared hesitant throughout the fight. He said his performance had nothing to do with anything other than Dvalishvili being better on the night.
“Best weight cut, felt good, no excuses,” O’Malley said. “My mom, she’s like, ‘You just weren’t the same. Like, what was wrong?’ Nothing, I just got beat. Everyone keeps asking me like, ‘Something seemed off, something seemed different, (you were) flat-footed.’ There was zero excuses, nothing. …
“I felt like I got out-strengthed. I knew what to do in certain positions. He was just stronger. I felt out-strengthed. I didn’t feel too out-skilled, out-speed. Cardio was good.”
The loss was a tough way to end the year for O’Malley, whose reign as 135-pound champion came to an end after one just title defense. With so much attention on UFC 306 given the unique nature of the event at Sphere, O’Malley had a golden opportunity to level up as a bona fide UFC star.
Instead, it’s back to the drawing board.
“I probably won’t fight for nine months, 10 months, maybe a year,” O’Malley said. “It’s gonna be a while. People are gonna have to watch UFC without the ‘Sugar Show’ for a little bit.”\
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 306.