Sean O’Malley has his eyes firmly fixed on getting his belt back.
O’Malley (18-3 MMA, 10-3 UFC) was dethroned as UFC bantamweight champion back in 2024 when he was dominated over 5 rounds by Merab Dvalishvili (21-5 MMA, 14-3 UFC) at UFC 306. He was submitted by “The Machine” when the pair fought again at UFC 316 last summer, leaving him out in the cold as far as the 135-pound title picture is concerned.
All of that changed however when Dvalishvili lost to Petr Yan (20-5 MMA, 12-4 UFC) at UFC 323 in December, and now “Sugar” sees an opportunity to re-enter the title discussion should he manage to overcome Yadong Song (22-8-1 MMA, 11-3-1 UFC) when the pair meet at UFC 324 later this month.
“Petr knows that's what's next,” O’Malley said on his YouTube channel. “I'm going to go out there and take care of Song, and that's what's next. It just makes sense. 2026 is going to be lit. I’m gonna go out there and take care of Song, take care of Petr. (I’m going to be) doing well, it’s going to blow up. (Then) I'm going to retire. This might be the last Sugar year. Ever.”
While O’Malley is fully focused on picking up wins over both Song and Yan in 2026, he hasn’t ruled out the idea of walking away from mixed martial arts entirely, particulary if he doesn’t manage to snap his current losing streak.
“Go 2-0 (this year)…dude, that would be kind of sick,” the former champion said. “Just f***ing then box. I don't know. It's almost so pointless to predict what I want to do in the next five years, two years, three years. It's take it one fight (at a time). (If) I go out there and I lose I'm like, ‘I'm done with this shit.’ Ideally, I go out there and win. I don't care if Merab retires. I still know how to beat that motherfucker. Ideally, I'd go take out Song and then get that Petr fight. And then we'll just go from there.”
