Jon Anik sees a silver lining in Sean O’Malley’s loss to Merab Dvalishvili.
Returning to the Octagon at UFC 306 for his second title defense of 2024, ‘Sugar’ delivered a lackluster showing that saw his explosive offense stifled by the grapple-heavyweight attack of Dvalishvili through five rounds. In the end, ‘The Machine’ saw his hand raised, taking the bantamweight title back home to Georgia via a dominant unanimous decision.
In the aftermath, O’Malley revealed that he suffered a torn labrum 10 weeks out from fight night, though he never disclosed the injury to the promotion.