Sean O’Malley Reveals Timeline for Next Fight Amidst Humbling UFC 306 Setback: ‘It’s Gonna Be a While’

Sean O’Malley shares plans for a delayed return to the octagon following his UFC 306 loss, hinting at a longer recovery period before his next fight.

By Debmallya Chakraborty

Published on Sep 17, 2024 | 10:32 PM IST | 75.4K

Sean O'Malley

Sean O’Malley will be missing in action for a significant period. Defending his title for the first time against Marlon Vera, O’Malley put up a striking show of the highest order. He left ‘Chito’ bruised and battered to establish himself as one of the biggest threats in the division. Unfortunately, when O’Malley crossed paths against Merab Dvalishvili, the champion was entirely caught off guard.

In what could be termed a stylistic mismatch, Dvalishvili’s grappling skills reigned supreme over O’Malley. Having been humbled by ‘The Machine,’ ‘Suga’ quite expectedly wanted to go on a prolonged break. Reflecting on his future paths, the former bantamweight champion said on the ‘SugaSeanMMA,’ “I probably won’t fight for 9 months, 10 months. Maybe a year. It’s gonna be a while. People are gonna have to watch the UFC without the Suga Show for a little bit.”

This statement makes it clear that O’Malley will not be cashing in his rematch clause anytime soon. This leaves the opportunity for Umar Nurmagomedov to challenge for Dvalishvili’s title. Soon after Dvalishvili’s victory, Joe Rogan asked him about facing Umar Nurmagomedov next. Surprisingly, while the Dagestani fighter could be seen smiling amidst the audience, Dvalishvili dodged the question.

‘The Machine’ refrained from providing a definitive answer as he stressed how Dana White has made the UFC great. Dvalishvili also stated that he is ready to face any fighter the UFC head honcho will ask him to fight against. Such a neutral answer soon made the fans angry, and they compared Dvalishvili to Jon Jones, who was ducking Tom Aspinall.

As a matter of fact, Umar Nurmagomedov will be a pretty formidable opponent for Merab Dvalsihvili. While Umar is currently undefeated in the UFC, his fighting style is quite similar to that of Merab Dvalishvili. Being a master grappler, the potential matchup between the two will surely be a banger of a fight.

In fact, the newly crowned champion seems to have already sown the seeds of rivalry with Umar. Speaking at the press conference after UFC 306, Dvalishvili mentioned that Umar Nurmagomedov is not Russian and clarified that Umar belongs to Dagestan. Such a statement was heavily criticized by Islam Makhachev.

Reacting to Dvalishvili’s words, Makhachev mentioned that he lived in America and thus did not have enough knowledge. The UFC lightweight champion further stated that Dagestan was a part of Russia itself, and thus, Umar was very much a Russian fighter. Thus, with so much back-and-forth already going on, it will be interesting to see how soon Umar Nurmagomedov and Merab Dvalishvili cross paths.

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