Rivalries: Sean O’Malley

Sean O’Malley has shown he can hang with top-tier talents in the Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight division. Whether he can prove he belongs there remains to be seen.

The 28-year-old Montana native will enter his 2023 campaign as the promotion’s No. 1 contender at 135 pounds, putting him in the hunt for a title shot against undisputed bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling. O’Malley sports an 8-1 record with one no contest across his 10 appearances inside the Octagon, his stellar physical tools and colorful personality having combined to give the UFC a readymade star. He has delivered 11 of his 16 career victories by knockout or technical knockout, eight of them inside one round.

As O’Malley awaits word on his next assignment from UFC matchmakers, a look at a few of the rivalries that have played a role in his rise to prominence:

Alfred Khashakyan

O’Malley introduced himself to a much wider audience and punched his ticket to the UFC during Season 1 of Dana White’s Contender Series, as he punched out the Glendale Fighting Club product in the first round of their pairing on July 18, 2017. Khashakyan checked out 4:14 into Round 1. O’Malley navigated some choppy waters on the ground and managed to get back to his feet, where his height and reach advantages proved decisive. He floored Khashakyan with a right hand, opened a cut above his right eye and applied maximum pressure. O’Malley then slipped a punch and leveled the Californian with another right upstairs and walked away without having to fire another shot. Nearly five years later, Khashakyan has yet to reach the UFC.

Andre Soukhamthath

The still-undefeated O’Malley improved to 10-0 with a unanimous decision over the former CES MMA champion in their UFC 222 bantamweight showcase on March 3, 2018 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Scores were 29-27, 29-27 and 29-28. Soukhamthath executed four takedowns and piled up more than six minutes of control time but struggled to keep up in other areas. O’Malley switched stances and assaulted him from every imaginable angle with a variety of strikes, including a spinning backfist and a spinning hook kick in the first round. At the end of the first five minutes, a dazed Soukhamthath stumbled back to his corner on unsteady footing. O’Malley showed off his submission skills for much of the middle stanza, where he made passes at a triangle choke, an armbar, a guillotine and a rear-naked choke, further flummoxing the Rhode Island native. Ahead on the scorecards, all of O’Malley’s hard work nearly went for naught in the third round. There, he suffered a lower leg injury on a blocked head kick. Unable to stand, he retreated to his back and managed to survive for what seemed like an eternity. Soukhamthath unwittingly aided the ailing Arizonan’s cause by securing a pair of takedowns and allowing him to ride out the remaining time.

Eddie Wineland

O’Malley made a significant move toward joining the bantamweight elite when he flattened the former World Extreme Cagefighting champion in the first round of their featured UFC 250 attraction on June 6, 2020 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Wineland met his end 1:54 into Round 1. O’Malley circled on the perimeter, probed for openings and connected with a spinning back kick to the body. The MMA Lab prospect then reset, feinted and sent a devastating straight right crashing into Wineland’s jaw, flipping the switch on the respected veteran in an instant. The Duneland Vale Tudo product collapsed backward, his head bouncing violently off the canvas. No follow-up attacks were necessary, as referee Herb Dean arrived to cordon off the scene.

Marlon Vera

The Team Oyama star disposed of the previously unbeaten O’Malley with punches and elbows in the first round of their UFC 252 co-main event on Aug. 15, 2020 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Vera brought it to a close 4:40 into Round 1. O’Malley leaned on his length and kept “The Ultimate Fighter Latin America” semifinalist at bay with powerful kicks to the body and leg during their initial exchanges. However, he took an awkward step forward midway through the first round, rolled his right ankle and retreated in visible distress. He was never the same. An off-balance O’Malley lost his footing later in the round, collapsed to his back and absorbed a volley of punches and elbows that necessitated the stoppage.

Petr Yan

Effective punching combinations and a late rally sent O’Malley to a contentious split decision over the former champion in their UFC 280 bantamweight feature on Oct. 22, 2022 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. All three cageside judges scored it 29-28—Vito Paolillo for Yan, David Lethaby and Ben Cartlidge for O’Malley, the latter two having unknowingly birthed Sherdog’s 2022 “Robbery of the Year.” Yan marched down the Dana White’s Contender Series graduate with his educated hands, mixed in takedowns and amassed nearly six minutes of control time. Both men staggered in the second round, where they traded crushing left hands in the center of the cage. Yan appeared to do more damage, but his inability to procure a stoppage proved costly. O’Malley delivered the most impactful strike of the match in the third round, where he sent a knee crashing into the Russian’s face and opened a horizontal gash across the entire length of his right eyebrow. Even as his blood colored parts of the canvas a dark shade of pink, Yan managed to secure two takedowns in the waning moments of the match. Those efforts, however, did have the desired consequences.