O'Malley Surprised Yan Didn't Call Him Out After UFC 333

Sean O'Malley expected a callout from Petr Yan after the Russian edged Merab Dvalishvili by unanimous decision at UFC 333 on Saturday, but instead found himself competing for contender status with Song Yadong.

Yan outpointed Dvalishvili 48-47 on all three cards in Abu Dhabi, per MMA Mania. Dvalishvili owns two wins over O'Malley. O'Malley holds a win over Yan. The math suggested a rematch was next. But commentator Daniel Cormier proposed Yadong as a potential title challenger during the broadcast, and Yadong was seated cageside.

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O'Malley On Why Yan Rematch Makes Sense

O'Malley addressed the snub on his stream after the fights. "I beat him like 6 months ago," he said of Yadong, according to the report. "I'm fighting Petr Yan next, I don't care. It's gonna be the greatest, biggest bantamweight fight in UFC history." He speculated that Yadong had been flown to Abu Dhabi in case Dvalishvili retained the belt, adding that he had a PrizePicks event in Florida and could not attend.

UFC CEO Dana White told reporters at the post-fight press conference that he and the matchmakers spent the evening texting about both O'Malley and Yadong as options. "Both are obviously great options and it's a good problem to have," White said. Yadong has beaten Deiveson Figueiredo and Umar Nurmagomedov in consecutive main events since losing to O'Malley. O'Malley's lone 2026 win came against Aiemann Zahabi in June.

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The title picture remains unsettled. Yan holds the belt but has yet to confirm his next opponent.

Reported via:

• MMA Mania — Sean O’Malley is ‘surprised’ Petr Yan didn’t call him out after UFC 333 win