Sean O’Malley is taking a break from boxing after his recent loss in a title fight to Merab Dvalishvili.
O’Malley faced Dvalishvili for the bantamweight title in the main event of UFC 306 at the Sphere in Las Vegas on September 14. Aside from a series of teeps to the body in the final round that clearly hurt Dvalishvili, O’Malley was beaten pretty much at a disadvantage throughout the five rounds. “Suga,” arguably one of the biggest stars in the organization right now, was seen apologizing to Dana White as the scorecards were announced in favor of Dvalishvili by unanimous decision.
O’Malley recently revealed that he will be taking some time away from the sport to fully recover from his injury. O’Malley won the title by knocking out Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292 in August 2023. He immediately set up a rematch with Marlon Vera, who defended the title with a crushing unanimous decision at UFC 299 in March of this year. By that time, Dvalishvili, who was considered a legitimate contender for Vera, was already waiting for O’Malley in the ranks. O’Malley has grown accustomed to having opponents waiting in the wings, but after his loss to Dvalishvili, he doesn’t want to plan a fight.
O’Malley claims he suffered more damage in the Vera fight than he did in the Dvalishvili fight, but he also said he would undergo surgery within the next two weeks. When asked about a possible timeline for his return, O’Malley said the summer of 2025.
“I’m probably not going to fight for nine, 10 months. Maybe a year. It’s going to take a while,” O’Malley said on his YouTube channel. “People are going to have to watch UFC without ‘The Sugar Show’ for a while… I think it’s better to have a proper break to get fully healthy, because there’s always a little bit of crap, but hopefully I can get a proper complete break and not be like, ‘Next is this, next is this.’ I knew I had the Tito fight right after the Arjo fight, and I knew I had the Merab fight right after the Tito fight. I don’t have anything scheduled after these fights.
“I don’t want it any more because I feel like there’s no one next. I just want to get healthy. I’m going to heal my injury and take my time to come back. I won’t be playing until June or July of next year. I have surgery in two weeks and then I’ll probably be out for two months after that.”
🚨 Sean O’Malley says he’s going to take a break after losing to Merab:
“I’m probably going to be out for nine, 10 months. Maybe a year. It’s going to be a while.”
People are going to have to watch UFC without Suga for a while.”
🎥 Sugar Shawn MMA
#UFC
#Mixed Martial Arts
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— Championship Round (@ChampRDS)
September 17, 2024
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