The UFC 306 saw Sean O’Malley relived off his featherweight championship title after suffering defeat at the hands of Merab Dvalishivili.
The Georgian put an end to O’Malley’s championship reign after defeating him in a five-round match. Merab delivered a contagious smackdown that saw him win in the first three rounds and sail to victory. However, the scoreboard told a different story.
The judges favoured O’Malley in the third round after the former champ opened a cut on Dvalishvili’s nose. The judges believed “Suga” scored that round. However, former UFC two-weight world champion Henry Cejudo questioned the judge’s decision and didn’t believe O’Malley won any round.
“First of all let me start off with, like man, you have to be careful man. These judges they need to pay for what they do, where is the accountability on some of these guys?” Cejudo began to explain on the Pound 4 Pound Podcast.
“Sometimes I wonder what the hell they’re looking at but at the same thing Dana says, don’t leave it in the hands of the judges. That scorecard is absolutely ridiculous, I don’t even know what round Sean even won.” the former flyweight and bantamweight champion continued.
Henry Cejudo also explained O’Malley’s lack of resilience in the five-round match cost him the title.
“Sean [O’Malley] is not accustomed to going five rounds. He is not accustomed to people on his legs. I still go back and say, ‘Hey, that fight with Aljamain Sterling, that was a fluke too’… It’s like, no, I’ve been in there with Merab [Dvalishvili]. I did a whole lot better than Sean…I took down Merab. Merab is lucky I had that groin injury and I’m still planning on running it back. Either way, Sean O’Methly got his a** kicked for five rounds and I can’t wait to get him next.”
”A lot of people say that Sean was flat, but Sean has never fought somebody like a Merab Dvalishvili. A freestyle fighter… Merab moves, as O’Malley was here, he [Dvalishvili] was literally running, and as he would get closer, he would punch and be able to turn that punch into a takedown, to be able to get on top of O’Malley and pretty much just control him.”
“’But the thing is, the more that Merab made a guy like O’Malley get up, the better it was for a guy because he was doing it again. He was fatiguing him through his struggles getting up. And then he was catching him again with his punch to his takedowns. I want a showdown with Sean O’Malley here in Arizona. For Merab? He has only one opponent, and that’s Umar Nurmagomedov.”
Henry Cejudo also went on to criticise O’Malley, stating that the fighter did not go through the rigorous process to earn his title. He disclosed that all of O’Malley’s opponents have been favourable, which has given the fighter a false sense of victory.
“Sean [O’Malley] never went through the wringer like we did to get to the title. Yeah, granted, he did get that victory [against] Aljamain Sterling, but did he really?…[Petr Yan?] But even that one, was it a great fight? Yes, but I don’t know which round he won either. Sean was speeded up to a title shot. They’re just being fed with favourable fights.
The 37-year-old had a lot to say about “Suga,” but he believes that now that the fighter has lost the title, he may face him eventually.
“I personally would love to fight him. I think with all the trolling that we have done to each other, we both live in the same city. But I just don’t believe that he’s gonna want to fight me, particularly right after this performance.
“Moving forward, if Sean O’Malley is willing and wants to fight this troll who’s a true king of Arizona well then here I am. But if not, I’m making my way back down to 125lbs because I’m not gonna waste my time,” Cejudo offered.
The two have had a long-lasting beef for some time, and a fight in the octagon would be a perfect way to end it.
