UFC fan-favorite commentator Jon Anik has shared a unique insight to Sean O’Malley’s banatamweight title defeat.
UFC 306 saw Sean O’Malley lose his bantamweight crown in his 2nd defence against Merab Dvalishvili by unanimous decision. The former champion struggled to find an answer to Dvalishvili’s wrestling heavy style, and it cost him his world championship on a historic night at the Sphere in Las Vegas.
O’Malley only had major success in round five, where he hurt Dvalishvili to the body but it was too little too late for the DWCS alumni . Following the loss O’Malley revealed that he has a torn labarum which he injured ten-weeks out from the fight. Did it hinder the former champions performance? Only he will know.
Although, it is difficult to see the positives in O’Malley losing the championship Jon Anik offered a more positive outlook:
Jon Anik Gives His Take
In an interview with MMA Fighting Anik gave his take on the situation around O’Malley, Anik shared:
“I think the good news if you’re looking for a silver lining for the UFC is that had Sean won this fight, maybe this hip injury would have had to be repaired anyway, right? And then you wonder if you need an interim champion. So I think right now, your new champion is pretty durable and willing to take on all challengers. And a murderers’ row, of course, awaits Sean O’Malley with the Cory Sandhagens of all the world and everybody else. There are a lot of dream-type matchups at ’35 for fight fans, right? Even Sean O’Malley and Dominick Cruz makes some semblance of sense right now. So there’s a lot of different fights at ’35 that make a lot of sense.”
So, Anik gave the UFC’s perspective of had O’Malley won he’d still be injured and would need surgery. As a result of this the division would be a bit logjammed due to the surgery and recovery O’Malley would need delaying a defence against Umar Nurmagomedov. And that the implications could cause a hassle for the UFC such as an inactive champion and possible interim champion.
But, due to Devashvili winning the UFC don’t have to worry about that. He appears uninjured and ready to defend his belt against the next challenger most likely Nurmagomedov. In the meantime O’Malley can have his surgery heal up and fight someone in the top 5 potentially Cory Sandhagen in a fun striking match up.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
