Sean O’Malley has picked his horse for the UFC 333 main event, and he skipped the part where fighters pretend to be neutral. He wants Petr Yan to keep the bantamweight title against Merab Dvalishvili in their trilogy fight, and he told everyone exactly why. Yan wins, O’Malley gets paid. That’s the whole pitch, and I love it.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, as MMA Weekly reported, O’Malley didn’t bother dressing it up. He said he’s pushing for Yan to win. Then he got to the good stuff. If Yan wins, O’Malley figures his camp gets the title shot, and he hammered the point that they’re next, with a curse word thrown in for emphasis.
This is the most honest thing a fighter has said all month, and he deserves credit for it.
Do the Math
Look at O’Malley’s résumé against the two guys in this main event. He’s 1-0 against Yan. He’s 0-2 against Dvalishvili. If you’re O’Malley, which of those men do you want holding the belt?
A Dvalishvili win leaves O’Malley staring at a third fight against a guy who has already beaten him twice, and good luck selling that to anybody. Fans don’t line up for a matchup where one side keeps getting the same answer. A Yan win flips the whole division in O’Malley’s favor. Suddenly the champion is a man he’s beaten, and that win came with an asterisk the size of Abu Dhabi.
They fought at UFC 280 in October 2022, and O’Malley took a split decision. Plenty of people thought the judges blew it, and Yan was one of them. That’s how you get a rematch with real heat. Nobody has to invent a beef or stage a shove at a press conference. One guy thinks he got robbed, the other guy has the win on his record, and the belt sits right between them.
I can’t stand manufactured rivalries that fall apart the second two guys stand nose to nose at a face-off. This one is the opposite. The grievance is already baked in. It’s been sitting in the oven for four years.
The Biggest Fight in Bantamweight History?
O’Malley went big, because of course he did. “I just think me versus Petr will be the biggest fight in bantamweight history,” he said. He called the rematch massive and said that’s exactly why his camp is rooting for Yan.
Big claim. I’d still bet he’s closer to right than wrong. Think about the ingredients. You’d have a champion with a chip on his shoulder about a decision he believes he won, facing the challenger who took it from him. You’d get 5 rounds this time instead of 3. O’Malley pointed that out himself: “Last fight was three rounds four years ago.” Two extra rounds in a fight that was already close enough to split the judges is the kind of math that sells.
The funniest part of the interview is that O’Malley sounds genuinely scared, and he seems to enjoy it. “Pete is not joke. He is no God damn joke,” he said, before describing the nerves that come with a fight like this and admitting he’d be going to war with Yan all over again. That’s a former champion openly saying the guy he wants to fight terrifies him, and he wants the fight anyway. That’s the attitude I want from every contender in the sport. Call your shot, admit it’s going to hurt, and show up.
The Hedge, and Why It Doesn’t Matter
To be fair to the matchmakers, O’Malley did leave himself an out. He said he isn’t 100% sure he gets the next shot and wanted to put that out there. Then he added, in saltier language, that he doesn’t know what else the UFC would even have for Yan.
That second point is doing a lot of work, and I think it holds up. If Yan wins, who else gets a rematch with that much backstory? A third fight between Yan and Dvalishvili would have just happened. O’Malley has the win over Yan, the disputed scorecards and the mouth to sell it for weeks. The UFC loves a fight that promotes itself, and this one would basically write its own trailer.
Some folks will call it selfish to cheer for one fighter purely because his win fattens your bank account. Sure. It’s also how every contender in history has watched a title fight, whether they admit it or not. Most guys give you the polite version, something about respecting both men and may the best man win. O’Malley gave you the version he actually believes, with the profanity left in.
The rooting interest is set. O’Malley needs Yan to beat the man who has beaten O’Malley twice, and he’ll be watching the UFC 333 main event like a guy with his last parlay leg riding on the scorecards.
