“Won’t fight for a year…” Sean O’Malley takes Israel Adesanya route after devastating loss to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306

Sean O'Malley loses his UFC bantamweight championship against Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306 in a dominant fashion.

“Won’t fight for a year…” Sean O’Malley takes Israel Adesanya route after devastating loss to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306

Sean O'Malley is ready to wait it out like Israel Adesanya after UFC 306 loss (via Imago)

Merab Dvalishvili crushed Sean O’Malley’s goal of defending his title on the highest platform. At UFC 306, O’Malley was overpowered by the Georgian, who used his entire arsenal to make a statement. Like former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, O’Malley has decided to take a break from fighting following the crushing loss.

Israel Adesanya decided to take a sabbatical from fighting after his title loss to Sean Strickland at UFC 293. The Kiwi fighter waited for almost a year and got another shot at the title against Dricus Du Plessis. Though he lost the fight, it was evident that his wait was worth it. As it turns out, O’Malley also plans to do the same and has urged his fans to stay put.

I probably won’t fight for 9 months, 10 months. Maybe a year. It’s gonna be a while…People are gonna have to watch the UFC without the Suga Show for a little bit.
Sean O’Malley via The TimboSugarShow 
YouTube video

O’Malley was pretty active in the last 13 months, out of which three were title bouts. He was in a red hot form with frequent shows of striking masterclasses. However, he couldn’t do anything against Dvalishvili. As UFC CEO Dana White said, Sean O’Malley looked flat until the last round, but it was too late.

FS Video

Dvalishvili used wrestling and unrelenting pressure to keep O’Malley under control for five rounds. Dvalishvili landed a series of takedowns, for which the champion had no answers. It was a tough day at work for O’Malley, but it did not cause the fighter to act out of character.

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Ahead of the fight, Sean O’Malley frequently made fun of Merab Dvalishvili’s physical features and promised a knockout finish. He was confident about his sharpshooting abilities, but Dvalishvili used his cardio to keep him out of range. With his coach asking him to dig deep in between the rounds, O’Malley was helpless and ultimately failed. 

Sean O'Malley at UFC 306
Sean O’Malley (via X)

O’Malley took the loss like a true showman and accepted his defeat instead of giving excuses. O’Malley made a hilarious video of him training in wrestling after the fight at UFC 306.

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On top of that, he used ‘emo’ Snapchat filters to accept that he’s now not undefeated. The American fighter made another tweet hilariously making his own rules to overturn the loss. 

Suga State athletic commission BREAKING NEWS Suga won 2 of the last 3 rounds!! Fight Over turned. Suga won.
Sean O’Malley via X 
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Sean O’Malley previously had only one loss in his professional MMA career, but he never really acknowledged it. However, losing his latest fight in such a dominant way, it won’t be possible for ‘Suga’ to act undefeated. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see what the former champion has planned going forward.