YAN Wants O'MALLEY Again — the REMATCH Four Years in the Making
“For real, we have history, so why wouldn't that be the fight?”
Petr Yan has not even settled his trilogy yet — and he is already naming the man he wants next: the one who took a decision off him he never accepted.
"For real, we have history, so why wouldn't that be the fight?"
That was Yan this week, asked about Sean O'Malley as his next title defense if he gets past Merab Dvalishvili in Saturday's UFC 333 co-main event at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.
The One That Still Burns
O'Malley beat Yan by split decision at UFC 280 in October 2022 — a verdict half the sport argued about then and argues about now. Yan has carried that loss for four years.
Since then, O'Malley lost back-to-back title fights to Dvalishvili, then rebuilt: a points win over Song Yadong and a second-round knockout of Aiemann Zahabi at the UFC White House card in June. Two straight wins, and the queue is forming behind him again.
Yan is not pretending to be blown away. He said he was not necessarily impressed by O'Malley's recent performances — but he conceded the point that matters: the man is winning, and he has shown he is among the next in line. The final call, Yan noted, belongs to the UFC, not to him.
First, the Trilogy
None of it happens unless Saturday goes his way. Yan (20-5 MMA, 12-4 UFC) regained the belt from Dvalishvili (21-5 MMA, 14-3 UFC) at UFC 323 last December. The series sits at one win apiece, ten full rounds shared.
Yan returns after back surgery kept him out most of the year, and he expects the Georgian to go back to his roots: "I think this time around, he's going to try to be more of a wrestler and try to wrestle."
His own plan is louder. "I'm gonna do whatever I can to finish the fight earlier this time around. I will put all of my effort into making sure that that happens."
Beat Merab twice, and the O'Malley rematch sells itself: the champion, the history, the decision nobody settled. Lose, and the whole conversation belongs to somebody else.
