UFC is trying to protect Sean O’Malley and get whatever they can from the former bantamweight champion before losing his inevitable rematch to reigning division titleholder, Petr Yan. That’s why “Suga” got an easy layup for the White House card, according to Yan, who gave his “consent” prior to the Aiemann Zahabi matchup.
O’Malley defeated Zahabi by way of second-round technical knockout.
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“The UFC were afraid for you!” Yan wrote in his Instagram stories (via Sportskeeda). “They needed to be sure that you would win in the White House! They didn’t want you to get beaten in the White House! I gave my consent! That’s why they gave you someone you can at least handle!”
O’Malley narrowly defeated Yan at UFC 280 back in late 2022 and would have been an easy sell for a “No Mercy” do-over; however, I don’t think the promotion wanted to risk having a Russian champion (and one of Vladimir Putin’s best buddies) celebrating victory on the White House lawn.
“At first, I asked for Petr,” O’Malley told MMA Fighting. “They said no. They didn’t say any reason, they didn’t say anything. They just said he’s not available. Then they offered me Aiemann and I said yeah. To be honest, I was trying to fight Aiemann my last fight and they said no. They gave me Song [Yadong]. It’s kind of funny, people are acting like it’s my decision. I wanted to fight Aiemann last time and they said no, they gave me Song. I wanted to fight Petr, they said no. They gave me Aiemann. UFC does what UFC does and there’s a reason they’re the UFC.”
The surgically-repaired Yan is expected to rematch former champion Merab Dvalishvili when “No Mercy” returns later this year — even if it’s a “terrible mistake.”
