Sean O’Malley never thought he would lose a fight.
A very successful start to his career as both an amateur and a professional had him feeling invincible and even after falling to Marlon “Chito” Vera back in 2020, O’Malley always chalked up that setback to an injury that ended his night and not anything his opponent did to defeat him. But then losing his UFC bantamweight champion to Merab Dvalishvili and then falling in even more lopsided fashion in the rematch had O’Malley stuck contemplating his future ahead of his return at UFC 324 this past Saturday night.
“My entire career, even as an amateur, I never lost,” O’Malley told About Last Fight after his win. “Then coming off these two losses, I took winning for granted. I felt like I always won. Every fight I was just like what are we going to do for the after party? I’m going to win, I’m going to win.
“My lungs hurt from screaming [in celebration]. I was just overwhelmed with emotion. Took winning for granted so it felt good to get a win against a really tough guy.”
Prior to the fight, O’Malley had addressed the possibility that his career could get cut short if he suffered another loss and perhaps there was a real world where 2026 was his final year in the sport.
Looking back now, O’Malley can’t say for certain if he really would have walked away following a third loss in a row but he admits it was terrifying that he was even contemplating that move.
“Realistically you never know,” O’Malley said. “If I would have lost, I’d be like these weight cuts suck, ‘F’ this. I don’t know if I would have been like that but it’s possible. I’m going to retire when I feel like OK, it’s time. If I would have lost, it could have been [my final fight]. I have such a good life back home, I could have just been like you know what [it’s time].
“That was a scary thought going into this fight that I even had that thought in my mind. Because it’s like how bad do I really want this? If it comes down to one of those moments on how bad do I want it, will I be able to push like I did in that Petr Yan fight? I got my answer tonight. I still do want it, and I proved that to myself. The only way I was going to be able to know that was if I had to dig deep and I did.”
The fight with Song played out in somewhat dramatic fashion with O’Malley needing to win the third round to secure his victory.
O’Malley delivered with his best performance in that final five-minute session but he definitely had a lot riding on that fight.
Thankfully for O’Malley, he got the job done and now he’s back in the win column with hopes that a title fight could end up on his 2026 fight calendar.
“I was coming off two losses,” O’Malley said. “I did a good job not building it up too big. Because if I lose this fight, I still have a great life, I’m still OK but I can’t come off three losses. I can’t lose again. There was a lot of pressure — not a lot but there was pressure I put on myself.”
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