Sean O'Malley entered 2024 believing he could attain Conor McGregor’s level of stardom. After UFC 306, that possibility has all but faded away.
O’Malley lost the bantamweight championship to Merab Dvalishvili this past Saturday in the UFC 306 main event at Sphere in Las Vegas. Over the course of 25 minutes, Dvalishvili mostly imposed his will as he repeatedly took down and smothered O’Malley, en route to a unanimous decision win.
While O’Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) declined to speak with reporters on fight night, he reacted to the loss Monday during an episode of his “TimboSugarShow” podcast with Tim Welch and said he learned an important lesson that hit him immediately afterward.