Sean O’Malley’s Next Fight on Hold: Why He Needs Time Away and a Layoff: “Maybe a Year.”
After dropping the bantamweight title, Sean O’Malley plans to take a long break before stepping back inside the Octagon.
‘Sugar’ lost his belt to Merab Dvalishvili on Saturday night in the Noche UFC headliner after ‘The Machine’ delivered a dominant five-round performance that saw him largely stifle O’Malley’s stand-up game with a wrestle-heavy attack. Dvalishvili ran away with the bout on the scorecards, securing a unanimous decision victory that moved his current win streak to 11 and earned him his first piece of UFC god.
After coming up short, O’Malley revealed plans to take a lengthy break from competing, suggesting that he “probably won’t fight for nine or 10 months” to give his body time to heal.
“It’s going to feel good to take a legit break to get fully healthy,” O’Malley said on an episode of his TimboSugarShow podcast. “It’s going to be nice to take a legit, full-on break without something next. Right after the Aljo fight, I knew I had the Chito fight. Right after the Chito fight, I had the Merab fight. Now after this fight, I don’t have anything. Nothing’s scheduled, no one’s next…
“I need to get healthy, and that’s it. I’m going to actually heal up from injuries and then take my time, and come back” (h/t BJPenn.com).
O’Malley did not offer any insight into the injuries he’s currently suffering from.
With Sean O’Malley benched, all eyes are on Dvalishvili’s first title defense
With O’Malley sidelining himself until sometime next year, all the attention will turn to Dvalishvili and his first defense of the 135-pound crown. Though he’s not exactly thrilled by the idea, the Georgian will likely be tasked with handing No. 2 ranked contender Umar Nurmagomedov his first career loss.
Nurmagomedov earned his spot as the next man in line with a dominant showing against Cory Sandhagen over the summer. Overall, Nurmagomedov is a perfect 18-0 with six of those wins coming under the UFC banner.
