LAS VEGAS — By his own admission, Sean O’Malley’s stock has taken a considerable hit over the last 16 months.
For a while there, from his 2019 UFC debut through his career apex in 2024, O’Malley went 10-1-1 — he avenged the lone loss, too — while winning and defending the company’s bantamweight title prior to his 30th birthday. With each highlight reel knockout, he became the poster boy of what was possible for a Contender Series fighter and one of UFC’s most marketable young talents.
Podcast appearances with Joe Rogan, Theo Von, Andrew Schultz and the Paul brothers did millions of views. His own YouTube channel shot up over a million subscribers. His Instagram, over four million.
“I’d run into a lot of people like, ‘Hey bro, huge fan. I don’t really watch fighting,’” O’Malley recalls. “I’d get that every time I go anywhere. ‘Not a huge UFC guy, but we love you.’”
But just as suddenly as he arrived, a pair of high-profile losses followed by lengthy layoffs quickly ushered O’Malley from UFC’s centre stage to what felt like a distant memory as his division carried on without him. Finally booked to return in a make-good fight against the aggressive, heavy-handed Yadong Song at UFC 324, O’Malley, who headlined pay-per-views in his last four fights, was facing the indignity of relegation to the undercard.
Now, the cancellation of Saturday’s planned co-main event, a women’s super-fight between all-time great Amanda Nunes and bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison, changed matters as the UFC elevated O’Malley and Song into the vacant slot. But even that will be a foreign position for O’Malley, who last fought as a co-main in his UFC debut.
“It was a Fight Night. Not a great card,” O’Malley says, his curled, green-and-pink hair parted to either side of his forehead. “But still a co-main.”
Of course, there’s a reason O’Malley’s competing Saturday. At a time when UFC lacks an American men’s champion — not to mention No. 10 Max Holloway being the lone US fighter within the promotion’s men’s pound-for-pound rankings — the skillful, ostentatious O’Malley represents one of the few homegrown athletes who reliably draws considerable attention in the company’s primary market.
As it begins a new, $7.7-billion broadcasting partnership with Paramount+, the UFC would love to leverage O’Malley’s popularity to maximize viewership. But even the sport’s most compelling entertainers need to perform in the octagon to remain relevant. And O’Malley’s competitive career has stalled out at his division’s upper echelon after Merab Dvalishvili seized his bantamweight belt convincingly in late 2024 before reaffirming superiority with a third-round submission finish during a rematch last June.
Not that there’s any shame in losing to a cardio machine building a dominant title reign such as Dvalishvili. But those back-to-back defeats left O’Malley with few divisional avenues to follow back to the top, which is why he had to be the most thrilled person outside Russia to see Dvalishvili comprehensively dethroned by +340 underdog Petr Yan in a rematch at UFC 323.
O’Malley holds a split decision win over Yan from a razor-close, three-round clash in 2022. It was a fight many believed Yan deserved to win — 25 of the 26 media members to submit their scorecards to MMA Decisions prior to the result being read favoured Yan — based on output, accuracy, and successful takedown attempts landed in each round.
Still, the first round was competitive, the second was Yan’s, and the third was clearly won by O’Malley, which only adds to the case for a five-round rematch. Yan no doubt wants another crack at O’Malley to right the record. And O’Malley can boast of being the only fighter in the division other than Dvalishvili to defeat Yan in the last five years.
Not to get too far ahead of ourselves, but to say a potential USA vs. Russia booking between these two on June’s White House card would thoroughly chum the promotional water is an understatement.
“I mean, it’s got to be me versus Petr next if I go out there and take care of business,” O’Malley says. “If not, I don’t know. I just feel like I’m trying to manifest that. I think if I go out there and put on a beautiful performance, me versus Petr at the White House is huge.”
Layer in the fact that Song already dropped a unanimous decision to Yan in 2024, and it’s clear which outcome the UFC would prefer this Saturday. The stars are aligning for O’Malley’s stock to stage a 2026 rally and his promotion to reap the dividends. He just needs to hold up his end Saturday night.
Easier said than done against Song, an aggressive, powerful striker whose explosivity can flip fights in an instant. For O’Malley, who prefers to play a patient, long-range game, the 28-year-old presents a particularly fraught challenge. If Song can effectively close the distance and disrupt O’Malley’s timing, creating a close-range firefight in the process, he’ll be at an advantage.
“Someone like Song is going to bring the best out of me. He’s very durable, explosive, hungry, experienced. Very, very difficult fight for me,” O’Malley says. “He’s powerful, fast. Some guys are powerful, but they’re not that quick. Some guys, they’re really quick, but they don’t hit that hard. Song’s got both.”
O’Malley’s best bet may be to lean into his championship round experience and superior lateral movement to force Song into a chase, draining his energy while looking for the right moment to land with precision from distance should he overpursue.
But this is only a three-round fight. And if O’Malley’s too restrained or selective, forcing the judges to rule on a low-output chess match, he runs the risk of not only a defeat but an unsatisfying performance that casual fans won’t be lining up to see again. Ultimately, O’Malley’s going to need to take some chances.
And yet, three rounds sound like a welcome change of pace for O’Malley. He’s wondered if the length of prior camps ahead of five-round championship fights sapped some of his moxie and effectiveness come the night. A focus this time around has been throttling down during the lead-up and doing less in hopes of preserving more.
“I definitely didn’t overdo the fight camp. My last four fight camps were each starting at 12 weeks and it was just a lot,” O’Malley says. “It’s a lot mentally, physically. But that’s our goal — is to be in title fights. Not complaining, but it definitely is a lot that people probably don’t even understand until you’ve actually done it.”
It can feel like O’Malley’s done it all. He’s been to the top of the sport and back prior to his 31st birthday. He’s headlined pay-per-views, signed lucrative endorsement deals, graced the pages of GQ and been referenced in Eminem and Lil Wayne lyrics. He’s made enough money to build multiple properties on a 1.6-acre plot he purchased in Arizona and start his own supplement company without outside investment.
What he hasn’t done is win a fight in the last 21 months. Rather, he has twice as many losses in that span as he had over his first nine years as a professional. Last year was O’Malley’s first without a victory since he debuted as an amateur in 2013.
Still, he doesn’t see these setbacks, and his retreat from UFC’s public eye, as a sign that his time has passed. He says he sees himself fighting as long as his body lets him. And he sees the UFC booking him onto its first Paramount+ card as a sign he can still attract an audience. O’Malley’s stock is hurting. But Saturday, he intends to start a rally.
“I think the UFC wanted me on the Paramount card for a reason. And that says everything I need to know. We’re still a draw, we’re still here. I’m in a good spot,” he says. “Life was still good. I’ve been saying, 2025 was probably one of the best years I’ve ever had just in general as a person outside of fighting. But it would be nice to be able to add a win to the life experience again.”
