Sean O'Malley's split decision win over Petr Yan at UFC 280 was controversial to say the least. 'Sugar', in his post-fight interview, claimed that he would have to go back and watch the contest, which he initially believed could have gone either way.
Having rewatched the bout, O'Malley now claims to be absolutely convinced of his win. The 27-year-old recently tweeted:
"Just rewatched the fight, def won. [heart emoji]"
Check out the tweet below:
Get the latest updates on One Championship Rankings at Sportskeeda and more
However, many fans continued to disagree with O'Malley and slammed 'Sugar's' recent comments. A Twitter user noted that O'Malley may have outpointed Yan in terms of a Muay Thai clash but 'No Mercy' had clearly won in all other aspects of MMA. @JBlazeTheGhost wrote:
Another fan observed that the fact that 'Sugar' had to rewatch the fight to convince himself of his victory is proof of him having lost the bout. @3rd_eye_MMA wrote:
"You having to rewatch the fight to assure yourself you won, is how we know you lost and the judges gifted you."
While all media scores turned in to MMADecisions.com had Yan winning, two of the judges saw it differently at UFC 280. Challenging Sean O'Malley to take a fan poll, @DrARS77 wrote:
"I am your fan bro, you lost… the people and the fans have spoken.. take a poll…"
Marlon Vera believes Sean O'Malley was gifted a decision against Petr Yan
Marlon Vera is the only fighter to hand Sean O'Malley a loss. However, 'Sugar' remains dismissive of the setback to this day, claiming to have compromised his leg due to a damaged nerve rather than getting TKO'd with leg kicks.
Vera recently joined a long list of fighters who disagreed with O'Malley's UFC 280 split decision victory over Yan. According to 'Chito', 'Sugar' himself appeared to be unsure when he was gifted the decision. The 29-year-old said in a recent appearance on The MMA Hour:
"The body language of O’Malley was a body language of, ‘I lost the fight.’ Then when they gave it to him, I thought it was a gift decision, but again, f*** it. The guy won the fight. Now he’s going to have a No. 1 next his name I guess, but I believe it was a gift."
Watch 'Chito' Vera's comments at the 1:45 mark of the video below:
While he doesn't agree with the decision, Vera believes Sean O'Malley deserves to fight for the title having defeated the No.1-ranked contender. However, 'Chito' also believes that the UFC might hold 'Sugar' for a little while before granting him a title shot as he was essentially gifted the win in the No.1-contender fight.