O’Malley Believes Yadong’s Win Over Umar Helps Him

Former UFC bantamweight champion, Sean O’Malley, sees a world in which Song Yadong’s upset win over Umar Nurmagomedov directly benefits him.

O’Malley won the title by finishing Aljamain Sterling in August, 2023, but lost it to Merab Dvalishvili in back-to-back fights — first by decision in September, 2024, then by north-south choke submission in June 2025. He’s since won back-to-back fights of his own this year, over Song Yadong on January 24 and Aiemann Zahabi on June 14, to restate his title credentials.

Yadong’s knockout victory in Shanghai on Saturday earned him a boost in Monday’s UFC rankings update. He’s now No. 3 at 135 pounds, directly below O’Malley in second, but ahead of the fourth-ranked contender Mario Bautista.

Speaking this week, O’Malley laid out two possible scenarios — and it depends entirely on how the October 24 fight between Petr Yan and Dvalishvili plays out at UFC 333. It will be their third meeting. Dvalishvili won their first encounter on March 11, 2023, before Yan avenged that loss to win the title on December 6, 2025, setting up this trilogy fight as his first defense.

“If Merab wins, it sounds like you have to give Song the title shot. If not, if Petr wins, I get the title shot. Mario [Bautista] is right there, too. The division is on fire right now.”

O’Malley’s case for a Yan rematch rests on already beating him once, by split decision in 2022 — the win that first earned him a title shot against Sterling. Bautista, meanwhile, has won 10 of his last 11 fights, with his only recent defeat coming against Nurmagomedov at UFC 321 on October 25, last year.

Whatever happens with Yan and Dvalishvili’s trilogy fight in Abu Dhabi, the outcome will effectively crown the division’s next challenger — with O’Malley, Song, and Bautista all waiting on the outcome.