Sean
O’Malley is taking a hiatus from the sport after his recent
title loss against Merab
Dvalishvili.

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O’Malley put his bantamweight title on the line against Dvalishvili
in the main event at UFC
306 at the Sphere in Las Vegas on Sept. 14. Outside of a last
round flurry of teeps to the body that had Dvalishvili visibly
hurt, O’Malley was largely on the wrong side of a one-sided
beatdown for five rounds. Arguably one of the biggest current stars
in the promotion, “Suga” was seen apologizing to Dana White as the
scorecards were announced unanimously in favor of Dvalishvili.

O’Malley recently revealed that he will be taking a short hiatus
from the sport to fully heal up from injuries. O’Malley won the
title with a knockout of Aljamain
Sterling at UFC 292 in August 2023. He immediately set up a
rematch against Marlon Vera,
where he defended his title via a dominant unanimous decision at
UFC 299 this past March. By then, Dvalishvili, who was considered
the rightful contender over Vera, was already waiting in the ranks
for O’Malley. While he has grown accustomed to having an opponent
in waiting, O’Malley doesn’t want to plot any matchups after his
loss against Dvalishvili.

Though O’Malley claims to have taken more damage against Vera than
against Dvalishvili, he also revealed that he will be undergoing
surgery in two weeks. Asked about potential timeline for his
return, O’Malley mentioned the summer of 2025.

“I probably won’t fight for nine months, 10 months. Maybe a year.
It’s gonna be a while,” O’Malley said on his YouTube channel.
“People are gonna have to watch the UFC without the ‘Suga Show’ for
a little bit… I feel like it’s gonna feel good to take a legit
break to get fully healthy. Because you always have little f—-ing
whatevers. But it would be nice to take a legit full-on break
without something like, ‘Oh this is next, this is next.’ Right
after the Aljo fight I knew I had the ‘Chito’ fight, right after
the ‘Chito’ fight, I knew I had the Merab fight. Now after this
fight nothing’s scheduled.

“I don’t want even – it’s like no one’s next. I gotta get healthy
and that’s it. I’m gonna actually heal up from injuries, take my
time and come back… I probably won’t fight until June-July next
year… Now I have surgery in two weeks, then I’ll be out for
probably two months.”

IMAK ADMIN

By IMAK ADMIN

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