Rising superstar Sean O’Malley appears destined for UFC greatness, and his stunning surge has now seen him overcome the number one bantamweight contender Petr Yan in a stunning war.
Across three action-packed rounds, O’Malley – the 11th-ranked contender entering the fight – outlanded his rival to claim a very, very tight split decision win (29-28×2, 28-29.)
He is now on a fight-five unbeaten streak (16-1,1 NC) and looks set for a title fight, capping a truly remarkable rise in the sport.
UFC boss Dana White announced it to be the Fight of the Night in his post-event press conference while O’Malley said he was prepared for a 15-minute war.
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He also knows the time is now to capitalise on his growing stardom in the sport.
“I can almost guarantee you I’m going to go sit down and renegotiate my contract after that,” O’Malley said.
At the start of the second round, O’Malley rocked Yan with a brutal left hand. Yan looked in severe trouble, only to strike back with a left hand of his own, before taking down his rival multiple times in a frenetic round.
In the third, O’Malley opened up a vicious cut on Yan’s eye with a knee right up the middle, sparking another brilliant round of high intensity.
Yan claimed six takedowns and was in control for a significant amount of time on the ground, and was stunned by the decision. Even O’Malley’s interview in the cage after the bout also hinted at surprise at the outcome.
Fellow fighter Jamahal Hill described it as “pure robbery” and plenty of other UFC stars were also shocked by the decision.
UFC boss White described it as a “razor-thin close” fight and was comfortable with the decision.
“We discussed this going into the fight,” White said.
“Lots of people were like, ‘Why are you giving him this fight, it’s too soon’… it was one of those razor-thin close fights. I could see people saying Yan won the fight, I could see people saying O’Malley won the fight. What’s weird is it’s not the way I thought it was with the judge’s scorecards. I thought, depending on who you gave the first round to determined who won the fight but that was not the case.”
