Sean O’Malley has sent a warning to Petr Yan ahead of UFC 333, with the former UFC bantamweight champion eager to settle their rivalry if Yan successfully defends his title against Merab Dvalishvili.
Yan will face Dvalishvili in the co-main event at UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi, as the bantamweight rivals prepare for the latest chapter in their trilogy. Yan reclaimed the title with a decision victory over Dvalishvili at UFC 323 in December 2025, avenging his earlier loss to the Georgian fighter.
However, another win could put Yan on a collision course with O’Malley, who has been working his way back into title contention.
O’Malley scored a second-round knockout over Aiemann Zahabi at UFC Freedom 250 in June, following a decision victory over Song Yadong. The two wins have strengthened his case for another shot at the bantamweight championship after back-to-back title losses to Dvalishvili.
With a potential rematch against Yan now in the conversation, O’Malley has made his intentions clear.
In a recent Instagram post, O’Malley called out Yan and suggested the champion should hope to lose against Dvalishvili if he wants to avoid another meeting with him.
“PETR YAN! You better hope you don’t win this weekend buddy, because if you do, you gotta fight me,” O’Malley said. “You don’t want that.”
O’Malley defeated Yan by split decision at UFC 280 in October 2022, handing the Russian one of the most controversial losses of his career. O’Malley went on to capture the bantamweight title by knocking out Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292.
Yan, meanwhile, has welcomed the possibility of avenging that defeat. Speaking to MMA Fighting through an interpreter, the champion said he would have no problem facing O’Malley again.
“Why not?” Yan said. “For real, we have history, so why wouldn’t that be the fight?”
Although Yan acknowledged O’Malley’s recent success, he stopped short of expressing admiration for his performances.
“It’s just that he’s obviously winning,” Yan said. “He’s doing a great job. He’s moving forward, and he’s definitely proved that he is the next one, or one of the next ones who should be good to fight for the title, but it’s not that I’m watching it, and I’m impressed by it, just he’s on the right trajectory.”
The champion also made it clear that he would leave the decision about his next opponent to the UFC.
“I don’t know about who’s deserving of the belt,” Yan said. “There’s a lot of guys in the top five that I already fought anyways. Whoever the UFC puts in front of me, that is who I’m going to fight. Whoever they think is the next opponent, I don’t choose my opponent. I’ll fight whoever they put in front of me.”
Despite the growing interest in a rematch with O’Malley, Yan must first get past Dvalishvili at UFC 333.
