Sean O'Malley was unable to defend his bantamweight title for the second time as he suffered a unanimous decision loss to Merab Dvalishvili in the main event of UFC 306. After initially claiming that he underperformed and retiring his belt by placing it in a suitcase, 'Suga' shared footage of him retrieving the belt, claiming he is still the champion.
In a post shared to his Instagram, the bantamweight claimed:
"I'm back. Just rewatched the fight. I won round one, three and five. F**k you, Merab, you're still a b**ch. I'm the champ and still undefeated. Defending my belt in June or July against Umar Nurmagomedov in Las Vegas.
"I'm the champ, and still, round one, three and five. If you don't believe me, go rewatch it for yourself. I had Merab running like a b**ch in round five. I'm the champ. Rewatch the fight. Title defense number three, Umar, I'm coming for you."
O'Malley captioned the post:
"IM BACKKKK. AND STILL. Rewatch the fight. 1,3,5 I won. You have to beat the champ to be the champ. 🎉 🎉 thank you guys. ❤️ can’t wait to defend my belt again."
Check out Sean O'Malley's Instagram post below:
While O'Malley claimed he won the bout upon rewatching it, all three judges saw things differently. Two judges awarded him two rounds, while the third believed he only won the fifth round.
Check out the official UFC 306 scorecard below:
Sean O'Malley previously retired his belt by placing it in a suitcase
Sean O'Malley took to Instagram on Wednesday to share a video of himself retiring his bantamweight title by placing it in a suitcase. 'Suga' revealed that he will not return to action for seven to nine months, captioning the post:
"You can take the belt from me but you can’t take the champ outa me. Not necessarily proud of my performance but proud of my mindset. Lost first 2 rounds and came back to win the 3rd and 5th. Had his b**ch a*s running from me in the 5th. Going to be out realistically 7-9 months. Going to get healthy and work on some things. Love you guys, love this sport, love the UFC. I’ll be back. ✌🏽"
Check out Sean O'Malley's post below:
It is unclear what's next for the former champion, who is now the division's top contender. He has already received callouts from multiple contenders, including Henry Cejudo, Marlon 'Chito' Vera, Cory Sandhagen and Petr Yan.