Former UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley doesn\u2019t seem focused on his next title fight just yet.<\/p>\n
At UFC 324 a few weeks back, O\u2019Malley returned to winning form with a unanimous decision victory over Song Yadong. This was a crucial win for \u201cSuga,\u201d as it ended his two-fight losing streak against Merab Dvalishvili, and he had admitted that a loss might have led him to retire. Fans have been hoping for a potential fight between O\u2019Malley and Cory Sandhagen, but the UFC appears to be considering other options.<\/p>\n
Although O\u2019Malley has publicly called for a rematch with current champion Petr Yan at the UFC White House event, another matchup seems to be in the works. In the bantamweight rankings, only two fighters sit above O\u2019Malley: Dvalishvili, who might get another shot against Yan, and Russian Umar Nurmagomedov, who has won his last two fights since losing to Yan. Nurmagomedov\u2019s manager revealed that the UFC is interested in setting up a bout between O\u2019Malley and the 30-year-old Nurmagomedov. \u201cAll teams are interested in this fight; we want to face Sean O\u2019Malley. O\u2019Malley is reportedly not opposed and isn\u2019t avoiding the fight. It makes sense logically, but there\u2019s no official confirmation, dates, or signed contracts yet. Still, this fight is likely to happen,\u201d the manager told Sport24.<\/p>\n
Despite Nurmagomedov\u2019s recent victories, he will probably need at least one more win to secure a title shot, as his fighting style is not widely embraced by fans. Although a fight against O\u2019Malley would be logical for the division, Nurmagomedov himself is skeptical that O\u2019Malley would accept it. \u201cI\u2019m ready to fight anyone, anytime, anywhere. If there\u2019s a rematch between Merab and Petr, I\u2019d really like to face Sean O\u2019Malley,\u201d Umar told Gorilla Fighting. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to believe Sean would say yes or that UFC would make this fight happen. If Petr wins the rematch, the next contender will be Sean, but if Merab wins, then it\u2019ll be me next. Sean has fought Petr twice already.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fan Take:<\/strong> This development is exciting for fight fans because it signals potential fresh matchups that shake up the bantamweight division’s hierarchy. A clash between O\u2019Malley and Nurmagomedov could showcase evolving styles and set the stage for new rivalries, keeping the sport dynamic and unpredictable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Former UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley doesn\u2019t seem focused on his next title fight just yet. At UFC 324 a few weeks back, O\u2019Malley returned to winning form with a unanimous decision victory over Song Yadong. This was a crucial win for \u201cSuga,\u201d as it ended his two-fight losing streak against Merab Dvalishvili, and he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2443],"tags":[2444],"class_list":{"0":"post-41892","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fighting","8":"tag-fighting"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}