Former UFC bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley is back to the drawing board after dropping his belt to Mreab Dvalishvili at Noche UFC 306 last weekend. 'The Machine' threw 'Sugar' off his game by taking him down repeatedly and upsetting his rhythm with constant movement.
Despite losing the bout via unanimous decision across three judges, Sean O'Malley is adamant that his shining moments were enough for him to win. Sportskeeda MMA gave Rounds 3 and 5 to O'Malley, which seemed to have coincided with the official score. In the fifth and final round, the former champ appeared to have hurt Dvalishvili with a front kick to the body, clearly winning him the round.
In a recent Instagram post, 'Sugar' was seen putting his belt inside a suitcase and walking away from the octagon. In the caption, he addressed the fight and then announced a lengthy break from the sport, saying:
"You can take the belt from me but you can’t take the champ outa me. Not necessarily proud of my performance but proud of my mindset. Lost first 2 rounds and came back to win the 3rd and 5th. Had his bitch ass running from me in the 5th. Going to be out realistically 7-9 months. Going to get healthy and work on some things. Love you guys, love this sport, love the UFC. I’ll be back. ✌🏽"
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Famous podcaster and YouTube personality George Janko commended the former champion in the comments section, saying:
"Taking an L better than any athlete I’ve ever seen! That’s the heart of a real champion! You’ll be back quick my guy 👏"
Sean O'Malley rewatches fight with Merab Dvalishvili, and insists he won
In the days that followed Noche UFC 306, while Sean O'Malley was still processing the loss, he took to X to insist that he won the fight. As it turned out, O'Malley rewatched the fight and made live commentary and analysis on X.
In his analysis, 'Sugar' proclaimed that he won the first round. He admitted to losing Round 2, though he took little damage. While he saw Round 3 as a close one, he still saw him winning it. Merab Dvalishvili took Round 4, making it 2-2 coming into the final round. With how the fifth and final round went, O'Malley comfortably concluded that he should have retained his belt last Saturday.
Check out the series of tweets from Sean O'Malley below:
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