O'Malley insists Yan rematch is next: 'I refuse to believe otherwise'

O'Malley leaves no room for doubt

Sean O'Malley is not campaigning for Petr Yan. He is declaring the fight done in all but name.

Speaking to Daniel Cormier on Cormier's YouTube channel, the former UFC bantamweight champion said there was no serious argument about who should challenge Yan next. The comments, reported on 28 October, came four days after Yan closed out his trilogy with Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi.

"Petr beat Song when I was defending my title in Miami, so Petr already beat Song, I already beat Song," O'Malley said. "I don't really think it's a debate or an argument."

He went further still: "Song was in the building [at UFC 333]; they're in your ear, it makes sense. I'm not there. Song's there. I don't really feel like I have to push for it or argue for it or try to do anything crazy for it. Me versus Petr is happening next. It just is. I refuse to believe otherwise."

That is a claim, not a booking: the UFC had not announced Yan's next opponent.

Why the Song push annoyed him

The trigger was visible to anyone watching UFC 333. O'Malley was not in attendance in Abu Dhabi, while Song Yadong was. During Yan's post-fight interview, Cormier pointed to Song as a possible next opponent, and the broadcast spotlighted the Chinese contender, fresh from a knockout of Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC Shanghai in August.

O'Malley treated that as production, not matchmaking. Song was there, so Song was shown. Cormier later explained that the broadcast truck had told him Song was about to be shown in the arena, and acknowledged he had momentarily overlooked O'Malley's win over Song.

That win matters. O'Malley beat Song in January, at UFC 324, and Yan had already beaten Song by unanimous decision at UFC 299 in March 2024. In O'Malley's telling, a Yan-Song rematch would revisit a pairing both he and the champion have already solved, while a Yan-O'Malley rematch would revisit a fight the champion has never won.

The trilogy that set this up

Yan settled his position at the top of the division on Saturday 24 October at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. In the UFC 333 co-main event, he beat Dvalishvili by unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring the five-round fight 48-47 for the champion. It was Yan's first successful defence of his second reign.

All three judges gave Dvalishvili the first two rounds, when his pressure and relentless wrestling attempts set the pace. Yan then took the final three rounds, working the body, defending takedowns with increasing ease and landing the cleaner, more damaging striking as Dvalishvili's output slowed.

Dvalishvili won their first meeting in March 2023 with a suffocating grappling performance. Yan avenged that defeat at UFC 323 last December, reclaiming the 135-pound title by unanimous decision. UFC 333 made it 2-1 to Yan and removed the result that would have complicated O'Malley's path: had Dvalishvili won, O'Malley, who has lost twice to Dvalishvili, would likely have been on the outside looking in.

The first fight still shapes the second

O'Malley and Yan first met in 2022, and O'Malley won by controversial split decision in a fight widely regarded as one of the best of that year. Four years on, he is leaning on both the closeness of that bout and the distance since it happened.

"I think the majority of people want to see this rematch. It was a close fight four years ago. We're both in our prime. It's just time," he told Cormier.

"Hands down it will be [the biggest bantamweight fight of all time]," he said, adding: "We're not going to be the co-main event. We're going to be the main event. It's going to be a massive card."

Sterling's scoring question lingers

Not everyone left UFC 333 satisfied with how the trilogy ended, even if the result itself is not in dispute. Aljamain Sterling, Dvalishvili's teammate and a former bantamweight champion, questioned the scoring of round three on his "Weekly Scraps" podcast.

"It's just such a subjective thing. One guy lands a lot more punches and one guy has two big shots, and then all of a sudden it steals the entire round," Sterling said, pointing to Yan hurting Dvalishvili with a body kick late in the round.

"It was a great fight, coin flip of a round for Round 3. I would have liked to see it go 10-10, but that's never going to happen and then the fight ends in a draw," Sterling said. "Of course, Petr Yan ended the fight strong, kudos to him, but scoring the fight round by round, I don't feel like we got a definitive answer."

A champion retains his title on a draw, so Sterling's point was narrower: identical 48-47 cards made a close fight look more settled than he felt it was.

What happens next

Reports after UFC 333 said UFC chief executive Dana White had named both O'Malley and Song as options for Yan's next fight, describing it as a good problem to have. Song's recent knockout form gives the promotion a genuine alternative if it wants a fresher pairing.

O'Malley's argument, stripped to its essentials, is simple. He beat Yan. He beat Song. Yan beat Song. Therefore, in his view, the next bantamweight title fight writes itself. He is insisting the fight is already next. Until the UFC says otherwise, that insistence is the story at bantamweight.