'Terrible idea'… Dana White upsets fans with Sean O'Malley update ahead of UFC 311
01/16/2025 05:10 AM
UFC fans aren't happy with Dana White's plan for Sean O'Malley.
The former bantamweight champion hasn't fought since suffering a lopsided unanimous decision title loss against Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306 in September.
'Suga' is currently healing up from hip surgery. Meanwhile, Merab Dvalishvili is set to defend his new belt for the first time when he takes on Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311 in California on Saturday night.
The UFC boss has revealed Sean O'Malley's place in the 135lb pecking order ahead of his first pay-per-view show of 2025.
Dana White suggests title shot is next for Sean O'Malley
After such a resounding loss, O'Malley appears to have work to do before he's considered worthy of a title shot, especially in a rematch with Dvalishvili.
However, Dana White sees him as next in line regardless of who wins the UFC 311 co-main event this weekend.
"I think he's gonna be watching this fight closely and could possibly fight the winner," the MMA mogul said when asked about O'Malley during an interview with Jim Rome.
White was then asked how quickly O'Malley's comeback fight will come together.
He added: "We'll see. I don't know how Saturday is going to play out yet.
"We'd make that decision the following Tuesday in matchmaking."
It's safe to say UFC fans hate the idea of O'Malley getting another title shot.
A clip of White's update on O'Malley was inundated with comments protesting the decision – even though there's no obvious number-one contender at bantamweight right now.
One fan said: "That's a terrible idea since @SugaSeanMMA (who would whip my a**) would get destroyed by both of them."
Another added: "Manufactured star gets manufactured title shot."
A third person fumed: "These immediate rematches need to stop unless the flight was close. He got destroyed."
Someone else joked: "Dana White Privilege."
Merab Dvalishvili promises no kissing at UFC 311
After pulling the hilarious stunt in his last fight, Dvalishvili has vowed not to kiss Nurmagomedov at UFC 311.
During the main event of UFC 306, Dvalishvili was in a dominant position over O'Malley. And with seconds left in the round, he goaded his rival by kissing him multiple times on the back before referee Herb Dean warned him against the move.
This time around, there appears to be a much more heated feud between the two title contenders and such antics won't be taking place. Instead, Dvalishvili insists that he will just punch his way to victory.
Speaking with Bloody Elbow in an exclusive chat as part of his partnership with Stake, the bantamweight champion explained: "Nurmagomedov is actually cocky. That's his problem. He thinks that he got this one easy, but he never faced me.
"And believe me he will know on the night. He will realize that he's going to fight me and he will be humble. I have never said that he's not a good fighter. I say he's a good fighter, but he takes shortcuts, you know
"He cheated a little bit because he was fighting nobodies and guys on their debut. And then from debut guy, he fought number two, you know, that's, that's a gift and that's a shortcut. And that's not how you want to earn your title fight.
"That's not right. In my opinion, he was supposed to fight one more. Maybe against Song Yadong. But once the UFC asked me, I said, okay, I will fight him.
"But I wanted to fight in February or March. But that's what I said. Why don't I like him? Because he called me a fake champion. Also, he was disrespectful towards my country."
When asked if he would repeat the stunt again at the end of Bloody Elbow's chat, Dvalishvili laughed off the idea and joked that there would be "no kiss, just punch!" He also refused to be drawn on what had caused him to act out in such a way.
