It’s been five days since former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Bantamweight champion, Sean O’Malley, suffered a crushing defeat in his rematch against Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 316, getting submitted in the third round with a north-south choke from inside Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey (watch highlights).
Despite tapping out for the first time in his UFC career, for the most part, O’Malley earned praise for a marked improvement over his initial bout with Dvalishvili—even the champion acknowledged it.
“He was way better than the first time,” Dvalishvili told Ariel Helwani earlier this week. “His takedown defense was much better. He was doing much better footwork, and he fixed the mistakes that he made in the first fight. He fixed those things.”
However, Cody Garbrandt — former Bantamweight champion and enemy of “Suga” — disagreed. He was unimpressed by the sober, social media-absent O’Malley’s performance.
“He should’ve kept smoking because he looked like s—t,” Garbrandt told reporters during UFC Atlanta media day. “Whatever he had to do, you know? Sometimes you lose, and you try to reinvent yourself and find yourself. At the end of the day, you know who you are, you know what you’ve got to do.
“I know I’m one of the best fighters in the world,” Garbrandt continued. “But, when you lose, and you’ve got everyone in your ear saying you need to do this, do that. Just remember what got you there and who you are at the end of the day.”
“No Love” still eyes a blockbuster pay-per-view (PPV) fight with O’Malley, but first, he must defeat Raoni Barcelos this weekend (Sat., June 14, 2025) at UFC Atlanta.
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WELTERWEIGHT CROSSROADS! Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) crashes State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, on Sat., June 14, 2025, with UFC Atlanta. Former 170-pound champion, Kamaru Usman, collides with fast-rising knockout artist, Joaquin Buckley, in a blistering main event mashup scheduled for five, five-minute rounds. In UFC Atlanta’s co-main event, former strawweight titleholder, Rose Namajunas, locks horns with grizzled 125-pound veteran, Miranda Maverick, setting the stage for an explosive showdown in the women’s flyweight division.
Don’t miss a single second of face-punching action!
Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Atlanta fight card right here, starting with the ESPN/ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. ET, before the main card start time at 10 p.m. ET (also on ESPN+).
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