Petr Yan Snubs Sean O’Malley; Eyes Rematch Against Song Yadong as Most Deserving

Bantamweight champion Petr Yan has the option of facing either Sean O'Malley or Song Yadong if he defends his belt at UFC 333.

Petr Yan Snubs Sean O’Malley; Eyes Rematch Against Song Yadong as Most Deserving

Petr Yan snubs Sean O'Malley and chooses Song Yadong (Image via UFC X Account/Imago)

Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili will settle their rivalry at UFC 333 this weekend in Abu Dhabi. Both of them are among the greatest fighters who have competed in the bantamweight division of the UFC. The question now is who will get the next title shot – Sean O’Malley or Song Yadong?

The promotion has a pattern of picking out the popular choice to fight the champion. A scenario like this happened this year when Sean Strickland leapfrogged Nassourdine Imavov to fight Khamzat Chimaev for the middleweight title.

With this example, fans have wondered who will get the next title shot in the bantamweight division. O’Malley and Yadong are equally deserving as they are on a winning run at the top of the division. Champion Petr Yan picked the Chinese star and explained his snub of O’Malley.

I think Song Yadong is really more deserving of a title fight to be honest but for me I’m not the one who decides it whoever is going to be offered to me by the UFC that’s who I’m going to fight.

Petr Yan via UFC 333 Media Day

Song Yadong lost to O’Malley at UFC 324 in January, but rebounded with two finishes after that. He submitted Deiveson Figueiredo in May and became the first fighter to knockout Umar Nurmagomedov in MMA.

The Chinese star also has history with Yan as well. Yadong fought Yan at UFC 299 and lost a competitive bout. Meanwhile, O’Malley has a win over ‘No Mercy’ when they fought at UFC 280 back in 2022. As such, Yan wouldn’t be surprised if ‘Suga Sean’ eventually got the next title shot.

Honestly, the UFC have been trying to pull Sean by his bootstrap since the very beginning. They gave him two free fights against the champ when it was Merab and then they’ve raised this chicken to lay eggs for so long and they’re trying to squeeze as many eggs out of it as possible.

Petr Yan via UFC 333 Media Day

When O’Malley lost the title to Dvalishvili at UFC 306 at the Las Vegas Sphere, he didn’t have to fight someone else to receive another title shot. The promotion offered him the shot at UFC 316. This is what the current bantamweight champion was referring to.

Dvalishvili also picked Yadong to get the next title shot. This is because he already has two wins over O’Malley and a fresh matchup is required if the Georgian fighter becomes the champion again. The details of who gets the next title shot will get ironed out in the upcoming weeks.

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Petr Yan fires back at Sean O’Malley for questioning back surgery

Ahead of UFC 333, ‘Suga’ Sean O’Malley sat down with his coach, Tim Welch, on his YouTube channel to breakdown the fight card. He felt that Dvalishvili may have made a mistake of traveling so late to Abu Dhabi that could affect the cardio.

Petr Yan fires back at Sean O'Malley
Petr Yan fires back at Sean O’Malley (Image via UFC X Account)

Then, O’Malley stated that Yan may not be the best version of himself as the Russian star had a back surgery earlier this year. Back surgeries in the 30s can change the trajectory of a fighter. As such, O’Malley felt that the trilogy matchup between Yan and Dvalishvili was evenly matched.

The bantamweight champion heard about the comments from O’Malley and fired back during the media day press appearance. Yan stated that he had multiple surgeries in the past and if O’Malley had those surgeries, he would have quit a long time ago.

The champion indicated that there was a major difference between him and O’Malley with his reply. The 33-year-old Russian star remains confident in his skillset to defeat Dvalishvili at UFC 333 even with all the injury setbacks.

It remains to be seen if O’Malley’s assessment turns out true or Yan’s willpower drags him to victory at UFC 333 this weekend.

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