O'Malley Says Petr Yan Rematch Is Next: 'It Just Is'

Petr Yan hadn't even finished strapping the bantamweight belt back on after outclassing Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 333 before the matchmaking chatter kicked off in Abu Dhabi. The UFC's attention drifted toward Song Yadong, sitting cageside fresh off his knockout of Umar Nurmagomedov. Sean O'Malley, meanwhile, watched from a distance and decided he didn't need to lobby for anything.

O'Malley's pitch rests on a tidy piece of logic. He beat Yan in 2022 in one of that year's best fights. He beat Song earlier in 2026 while he was still champion. And he followed that with a knockout of Aimann Zahabi on the UFC White House card. Speaking on Daniel Cormier's podcast, O'Malley said there's no debate or argument to be had — he refuses to believe he's not next.

The Song Problem

The awkward wrinkle is that Yan has also beaten Song, which is exactly why O'Malley brushes aside the cageside hype around the Chinese contender. His point: if a Song win is the credential everyone's chasing, both he and Yan already own it. The difference, as O'Malley sees it, is simply who was in the building. Song was there. O'Malley wasn't.

He's also leaning on the money argument, and it's not a weak one. O'Malley claims his fight with Marlon Vera was, by the numbers, the biggest bantamweight bout the UFC has ever done. A Yan rematch, he reckons, would beat it — not because Yan's a crossover star, but because O'Malley believes he brings the mainstream eyeballs while Yan brings the respect of the hardcore crowd.

Where It Actually Stands

O'Malley's confident this lands as a main event on a stacked card rather than a co-headliner. That's the sell. The reality is less settled: the UFC hasn't announced anything for Yan, and a champion who just dismantled Dvalishvili has options. Aljamain Sterling, for one, has publicly held off on crowning Yan the division's GOAT just yet.

Still, the case isn't nothing. A prior win over the reigning champ is the single most portable bargaining chip in MMA, and O'Malley's holding it. Whether the UFC sees the box office the same way he does is the only question left. He's already answered it for himself.