No Excuses For UFC 316 Loss, Potential Return Date

Sean O’Malley spent nearly nine months contemplating how he would get the UFC bantamweight title back from Merab Dvalishvili. It took Dvalishvili less than 15 minutes to crush O’Malley’s dreams of a return to the top of the UFC’s 135-pound division.

In the lead-up to Saturday’s UFC 316, there was a lot of talk about O’Malley’s focus on his rematch with Dvalishvili at UFC 316. The former champ, who lost his belt to Dvalishvili via decision at UFC 306 in September 2024, spoke about how he had let the persona of “Suga” Sean O’Malley take over his life, saying. “I just wanted less distractions in my life, just in general. I was too attached to ‘Suga,’ too attached to this character. And it was like pulling me out of who I am on a day-to-day basis. I am a dad, I am a husband… It has been life-changing.”

While the changes O’Malley made ahead of UFC 316 will make him a better man, father, and husband, they did not help him in the cage. An upgraded version of Dvalishvili dominated O’Malley in the grappling department on his way to a third-round submission win in the main event of Saturday’s fight card in front of a sold-out crowd at Newark’s Prudential Center.

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O’Malley, who left the Octagon with no lingering injuries or need for post-fight surgery, reflected on his second loss to Dvalishvili, and third overall, on his podcast, “No excuses. I had a great camp. Camp was really (expletive) good, sparring was good, everything was excellent.”

When asked when he was planning a return to action, the 30-year-old O’Malley didn’t have a set date in mind, but it did not sound like he was planning to take an extended break from competition.

“It’s hard to say,” said O’Malley. “The division is going to play out over the next few months. We’ll see where it goes. December seems like it would make sense for me to get back in there (in) six or seven months.”

Despite the loss to Dvalishvili, O’Malley retained his No. 1 ranking in the official UFC bantamweight rankings in the aftermath of UFC 316. Dvalishvili moved to the No. 2 spot in the UFC pound-for-pound rankings, jumping over UFC heavyweight champ Jon Jones with his win, and is likely to face Cory Sandhagen in his next title defense.

We will have more news on Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili as it becomes available.