Tag: Sean O’Malley

‘You Want Anyone But Umar. Paper Champ’ – MMA Fans React To Merab Dvalishvili Offering Sean O’Malley Title Rematch

Merab Dvalishvili recently found himself under fire from MMA fans after extending an offer to Sean O’Malley for a title rematch. “The Machine” seized the UFC bantamweight title by dethroning O’Malley in the main event of Noche UFC 306 earlier this month, where he thoroughly outmatched “Suga” with his masterful grappling prowess and six takedowns […]

Continue Reading ‘You Want Anyone But Umar. Paper Champ’ – MMA Fans React To Merab Dvalishvili Offering Sean O’Malley Title Rematch at MMA News.

Merab Dvalishvili recently found himself under fire from MMA fans after extending an offer to Sean O’Malley for a title rematch.

“The Machine” seized the UFC bantamweight title by dethroning O’Malley in the main event of Noche UFC 306 earlier this month, where he thoroughly outmatched “Suga” with his masterful grappling prowess and six takedowns throughout the bout.

Despite the outcome, O’Malley has since contested the judges’ scorecards, taking to X to argue that he actually won the fight. The former champ also disclosed that he needs surgery to address a hip injury but assured fans he’ll be back in action by next summer.

For Dvalishvili, the debate surrounding his first title defense has intensified, with many pointing to the likely #1 contender, Umar Nurmagomedov, as the rightful challenger. However, the Georgian champion has shown little enthusiasm for facing the undefeated Dagestani in his next bout.

Dvalishvili Slammed By MMA Community Over O’Malley Rematch Offer

“The Machine” recently took to X to respond to O’Malley’s repeated claims that he never truly lost their bout. Dvalishvili proposed that they settle the score once and for all by running it back at UFC 309, set for November 15 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. He went on to say that after silencing O’Malley’s doubts, he’s ready to take on whoever the UFC throws his way next.

“I hear O’Malley thinks he won the fight and is looking for a rematch,” Dvalishvili tweeted. “If he wants it, he can have it. Let’s do it on November 16th at the Garden, and then I’ll still defend the title against whoever the UFC wants me to fight next. What do you think? @SugaSeanMMA”

Dvalishvili’s proposal sparked an array of reactions across the MMA community, with many speculating that the newly crowned champion might be attempting to dodge a showdown with Nurmagomedov. Even O’Malley and Nurmagomedov added their voices to the chorus of disapproval.

O’Malley fired back, revealing he’s scheduled for hip surgery on October 3, and urged Dvalishvili to take on Nurmagomedov in the meantime.

“Getting surgery Oct 3rd. I fought you with one hip and still beat you. Round 1,3,5. I’m the champ. Fight Umnar.”

Meanwhile, Nurmagomedov doubled down on his accusations, claiming that Dvalishvili is avoiding a potential clash with him.

“He’s ready to fight with anyone except Umar Nurmagomedov.”

One fan chimed in, backing the Dagestani’s claim.

“You want anyone but Umar. Paper champ.”

Amidst the flood of negative comments, one fan stood out, applauding “The Machine” for embracing the role of an active champion.

“Honestly, you might be the craziest champion we’ve had, but at least you’re going to be active, so you’re fine by me.”

Another fan dismissed Dvalishvili’s proposal, branding it an unfounded offer.

“You know he’s getting surgery… Baseless offer.”

One fan jokingly declared that he’d like to be the next to challenge the Georgian champion.

“If I asked real nice, could I fight you for the belt Merab?”

“Umnar is not that scary, bro.”

“No. Stop ducking Umar. F**king lame.”

“The way you’ve been trying to duck Umar is crazzy.”

“No one wants to watch that again, Merab…least of all your boss, Dana”

Continue Reading ‘You Want Anyone But Umar. Paper Champ’ – MMA Fans React To Merab Dvalishvili Offering Sean O’Malley Title Rematch at MMA News.

‘Done Nothing But Make Excuses…’ – Fans Fed Up After Latest Aljamain Sterling Rant About Sean O’Malley Title Fight

On a recent episode of Demetrious Johnson’s MightyCast, former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling joined him as a guest. As you’d expect, at one point, the conversation turned to Sterling’s fight with Sean O’Malley at UFC 292 where he lost the bantamweight title, which he has spoken about a lot since. “Funkmaster” was pretty open […]

Continue Reading ‘Done Nothing But Make Excuses…’ – Fans Fed Up After Latest Aljamain Sterling Rant About Sean O’Malley Title Fight at MMA News.

On a recent episode of Demetrious Johnson’s MightyCast, former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling joined him as a guest.

As you’d expect, at one point, the conversation turned to Sterling’s fight with Sean O’Malley at UFC 292 where he lost the bantamweight title, which he has spoken about a lot since.

“Funkmaster” was pretty open about the fact that he didn’t want to fight “Suga” when the UFC wanted him to.

Having just defended his title against Henry Cejudo, Sterling wanted some time off, instead of jumping back into another training camp.

He spoke about this and how it affected him in the podcast episode.

“For a guy who’s already depleted, it’s not like I had a lot to lose so to do that drastic weight cut in such a short amount of time, I knew I was like fighting an uphill battle. I’m like, you know, I told my manager no probably like five different times but eventually, somehow, I was eventually convinced to take it.”

MMA Fans React To Aljamain Sterling Talking About The Decision To Fight Sean O’Malley

Sterling has come out and said that though he could have and probably should’ve put his foot down to have the best chance of winning this fight, he was persuaded to take it and that’s how it played out.

However, fans are beginning to become a little fed up over Sterling talking about how his loss was partly down to being cajoled against his wishes to take the fight.

They voiced their opinions in the comment section underneath the video.

“He’s done nothing but makes excuses while refusing to give Sean credit.”

“The more Aljo talks, the more I realise I don’t actually like him”

“Excuses delusions, misplaced blame and anger and victim mentality effect some fighters so much they can’t see reality. Tyrone Woodly and Aljo are 2 of the damn worst.”

“Who else is sick of all this victimhood.”

“Dana hated both of these guys as champions.”

“Sean o malley had broken ribs and couldn’t grapple and he still fought aljo and whooped him”

“Bro is STILL talking about this?? Aljo, let it go man.”

“You got merked, accept it like a man.”

Read also: Sean O’Malley’s Coach Reveals UFC Rules He Would Change: ‘Aljo Does It…’

Continue Reading ‘Done Nothing But Make Excuses…’ – Fans Fed Up After Latest Aljamain Sterling Rant About Sean O’Malley Title Fight at MMA News.

‘Done Nothing But Make Excuses…’ – Fans Fed Up After Latest Aljamain Sterling Rant About Sean O’Malley Title Fight

On a recent episode of Demetrious Johnson’s MightyCast, former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling joined him as a guest. As you’d expect, at one point, the conversation turned to Sterling’s fight with Sean O’Malley at UFC 292 where he lost the bantamweight title, which he has spoken about a lot since. “Funkmaster” was pretty open […]

Continue Reading ‘Done Nothing But Make Excuses…’ – Fans Fed Up After Latest Aljamain Sterling Rant About Sean O’Malley Title Fight at MMA News.

On a recent episode of Demetrious Johnson’s MightyCast, former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling joined him as a guest.

As you’d expect, at one point, the conversation turned to Sterling’s fight with Sean O’Malley at UFC 292 where he lost the bantamweight title, which he has spoken about a lot since.

“Funkmaster” was pretty open about the fact that he didn’t want to fight “Suga” when the UFC wanted him to.

Having just defended his title against Henry Cejudo, Sterling wanted some time off, instead of jumping back into another training camp.

He spoke about this and how it affected him in the podcast episode.

“For a guy who’s already depleted, it’s not like I had a lot to lose so to do that drastic weight cut in such a short amount of time, I knew I was like fighting an uphill battle. I’m like, you know, I told my manager no probably like five different times but eventually, somehow, I was eventually convinced to take it.”

MMA Fans React To Aljamain Sterling Talking About The Decision To Fight Sean O’Malley

Sterling has come out and said that though he could have and probably should’ve put his foot down to have the best chance of winning this fight, he was persuaded to take it and that’s how it played out.

However, fans are beginning to become a little fed up over Sterling talking about how his loss was partly down to being cajoled against his wishes to take the fight.

They voiced their opinions in the comment section underneath the video.

“He’s done nothing but makes excuses while refusing to give Sean credit.”

“The more Aljo talks, the more I realise I don’t actually like him”

“Excuses delusions, misplaced blame and anger and victim mentality effect some fighters so much they can’t see reality. Tyrone Woodly and Aljo are 2 of the damn worst.”

“Who else is sick of all this victimhood.”

“Dana hated both of these guys as champions.”

“Sean o malley had broken ribs and couldn’t grapple and he still fought aljo and whooped him”

“Bro is STILL talking about this?? Aljo, let it go man.”

“You got merked, accept it like a man.”

Read also: Sean O’Malley’s Coach Reveals UFC Rules He Would Change: ‘Aljo Does It…’

Continue Reading ‘Done Nothing But Make Excuses…’ – Fans Fed Up After Latest Aljamain Sterling Rant About Sean O’Malley Title Fight at MMA News.

Sean O’Malley’s Coach Reveals UFC Rules He Would Change: ‘Aljo Does It…’

Many rules have been a bone of contention in MMA circles as they can vary across promotions. For instance, the UFC doesn’t allow knees to grounded opponents or 12-6 elbows, unlike ONE Championship. On the flip side, moves like eye pokes, groin strikes, and headbutts are banned across all major promotions for obvious safety reasons. […]

Continue Reading Sean O’Malley’s Coach Reveals UFC Rules He Would Change: ‘Aljo Does It…’ at MMA News.

Many rules have been a bone of contention in MMA circles as they can vary across promotions. For instance, the UFC doesn’t allow knees to grounded opponents or 12-6 elbows, unlike ONE Championship. On the flip side, moves like eye pokes, groin strikes, and headbutts are banned across all major promotions for obvious safety reasons.

Obeying the rules of the promotion and the commission you’re fighting under is very important for fighters. Jon Jones lost to Matt Hamill via DQ because he landed multiple 12-6 elbows and similarly, Petr Yan lost his UFC bantamweight championship for landing an illegal knee on Aljamain Sterling.

Sean O’Malley’s coach Tim Welch believes a couple of rules in MMA should change to stop fighters from exploiting them…

Sean O’Malley’s Coach Reveals How Aljamain Sterling Exploits A UFC Rule And Wishes To Get It Changed

Welch was asked about the MMA rules he would change on his official YouTube podcast, recently. Right away, he mentioned that fighters should be able to upkick opponents on top of them.

It is worth noting that upkicks from the ground to a standing opponent aren’t illegal in the UFC. In fact, Niko Price and Jon Fitch finished their opponents via upkicks in the promotion.

However, it is illegal to upkick an opponent while their knees are down. Back in May 2021, Randa Markos was disqualified for kicking Luana Pinheiro from the ground while the latter’s was sitting on the ground.

Charles Oliveira is notorious for landing upkicks too. He threw one at Islam Makhachev that could’ve knocked the Dagestani fighter out. Even against Tsarukyan, he landed an illegal upkick as the opponent’s knees were grounded following which the referee warned “Do Bronxs” and stopped the action temporarily.

Welch, though, believes that the upkicks to a grounded opponent should be legal in the UFC. Another tactic he dislikes is fighters staying in a safe front headlock position to rest up as they cannot be kneed during the time.

Welch called out Sterling for exploiting the grounded fighter rule sometimes and a great example of this is when “Funkmaster” took on Henry Cejudo. During multiple exchanges when Aljo would shoot for a takedown and fail, he would immediately bend his knees, leaving Cejudo with no viable moves.

“The upkicks. If some f*****g guy’s on top of you, on his knees, whatever, you should be able to upkick him to his f*****g lips. I think that front headlock one too. People shoot into a front headlock and they can hang out there without getting damage and almost rest there. I mean, Aljo does it sometimes but to be able to knee the top of their head, boom, boom, boom, so they can’t rest there. So if you shoot in a front headlock, you fail on a shot, you got to pull the half guard and get to your back or you got to make a move. Not just sit in that frontlock thinking I’m safe.”

Continue Reading Sean O’Malley’s Coach Reveals UFC Rules He Would Change: ‘Aljo Does It…’ at MMA News.

Sean O’Malley’s Loss to Merab Dvalishvili Comes with a ‘Silver Lining’

Sean O'Malley's Loss to Merab Dvalishvili Comes with a 'Silver Lining'Jon Anik sees a silver lining in Sean O’Malley’s loss to Merab Dvalishvili. Returning to the Octagon at UFC…

Sean O'Malley's Loss to Merab Dvalishvili Comes with a 'Silver Lining'

Jon Anik sees a silver lining in Sean O’Malley’s loss to Merab Dvalishvili.

Returning to the Octagon at UFC 306 for his second title defense of 2024, ‘Sugar’ delivered a lackluster showing that saw his explosive offense stifled by the grapple-heavyweight attack of Dvalishvili through five rounds. In the end, ‘The Machine’ saw his hand raised, taking the bantamweight title back home to Georgia via a dominant unanimous decision.

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In the aftermath, O’Malley revealed that he suffered a torn labrum 10 weeks out from fight night, though he never disclosed the injury to the promotion. Scheduled to undergo surgery in early October, O’Malley is expected to be out of action for 6-8 months at a minimum.

Speaking with MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck, the UFC’s chief play-by-play man offered his interesting take on O’Malley’s loss, suggesting that it could be for the best on the promotion’s side of things.

“I think the good news if you’re looking for a silver lining for the UFC is that had Sean won this fight, maybe this hip injury would have had to be repaired anyway, right?” Anik said. “And then you wonder if you need an interim champion. So I think right now, your new champion is pretty durable and willing to take on all challengers.

And a murderers’ row, of course, awaits Sean O’Malley with the Cory Sandhagens of all the world and everybody else. There are a lot of dream-type matchups at ’35 for fight fans, right? Even Sean O’Malley and Dominick Cruz makes some semblance of sense right now. So there’s a lot of different fights at ’35 that make a lot of sense” (h/t MMA News).

Merab vs. Umar Up next as Sean O’Malley takes time to heal up

Though it’ll be a while until we see O’Malley back inside the Octagon, Merab Dvalishvili is already staring down the barrel of his first title defense.

All signs currently point toward ‘The Machine’ putting his newly-won bantamweight belt on the line against No. 2 ranked contender Umar Nurmagomedov not long after our calendars flip over to 2025 — assuming the Dagestani is willing to wait that long.

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‘Every Time!’ – Sean O’Malley Reveals How Often He’s Fought With Injuries

Sean O’Malley, regardless of the outcome of his fight against Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306, would’ve taken time off to get hip surgery. The injury had been bothering the former bantamweight kingpin for quite some time, and he’s unlikely to make his UFC return for at least a year now. MMA fighters dealing with injuries […]

Continue Reading ‘Every Time!’ – Sean O’Malley Reveals How Often He’s Fought With Injuries at MMA News.

Sean O’Malley, regardless of the outcome of his fight against Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306, would’ve taken time off to get hip surgery. The injury had been bothering the former bantamweight kingpin for quite some time, and he’s unlikely to make his UFC return for at least a year now.

MMA fighters dealing with injuries isn’t a surprise at all. Injuries mostly occur because of rigorous training or during sparring and often lead to fights getting postponed or canceled. However, unless things are too severe, most fighters admit to competing with injuries.

O’Malley recently opened up about his upcoming hip surgery and how frequently he fights with injuries…

Sean O’Malley Claims To Have ‘Mentally Accepted’ Surgery But Not The Merab Dvalishvili Loss

O’Malley, on his official YouTube channel, revealed that he’s scheduled to undergo surgery for his left labrum in his hip on October 3, 2024. When asked how often he fights with undisclosed injuries, here’ what “Suga” said:

“I mean, every time. Every time. I have surgery October 3rd. I’m excited about the whole, I just kind of mentally accepted it unlike the defeat. I just mentally accepted, alright, we’re going to f****g go through surgery. Go through recovery and just get her done.”

After reiterating that he could’ve won three rounds against Dvalishvili, O’Malley discussed the implications of his hip injury. From feeling uncomfortable doing day-to-day movements to not being able to try out new tactics in training, there are many ways it bothered him. He admitted that things are worse if a fighter is dealing with a knee, hip, or ankle injury.

The former champ also pointed out that he hasn’t been able to lift weights because of being concerned about the injury.

This explains why “Suga” aims to fully recover ahead of his UFC return. He’ll be 30 by then and considers 30-35 to be his physical prime. So, his plan for the next 12 months mostly involves eating, sleeping, and resting properly.

With his return date several months away, O’Malley doesn’t want to think of a comeback fight yet. He knows that the UFC bantamweight division is stacked with the likes of Umar Nurmagomedov, Dvalishvili, Petr Yan, Cory Sandhagen, and Deiveson Figueiredo, so finding an exciting fight for his return shouldn’t be a problem.

Continue Reading ‘Every Time!’ – Sean O’Malley Reveals How Often He’s Fought With Injuries at MMA News.