The now former UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley couldn’t get going in Saturday’s UFC 306 headliner inside the Sphere in Las Vegas, according to Dana White.
O’Malley, faced with a near constant stream of forward aggression and takedown attempts, wilted to Merab Dvalishvili across five rounds in a fight that topped the most spectacular event in the UFC’s three-decade history, and was taken down six times in the 25-minute bout as the Georgian unleashed a furious pace en route to his maiden UFC world title victory.
For O’Malley, the bout represents the second defeat of his career but by far the most conclusive, as he never found a foothold with which to launch some forward progress of his own as his long-range, sniping style of striking proved ineffective against the constantly-moving Georgian.
And speaking to the media following the event, including The Mac Life, UFC boss Dana White said that O’Malley didn’t pose the same type of threat as he usually does across the five rounds.
“He looked flat,” White said of O’Malley. “He didn’t look sharp. He didn’t look crisp until the last round. He hurt him with that body shot. He knew he hurt him with the body shot and kept going, trying to finish. I looked at the punch stats and there were like six in a couple of rounds.”
White, though, was noncommital when asked if the sheer magnitude of the event affected O’Malley in the cage.
“I don’t know the answer to that question, but I think he’s one of those kids that lives for moments like this,” White said.
“This is what he’s about. He’s that guy. I don’t know if he just got in there tonight and felt flat. Some nights, it just is what it is.”
