UFC Hall of Famer claps back at Devin Haney for mocking Sean O'Malley after UFC 316 loss: "He'd crush you"

Following UFC 316, undefeated boxer Devin Haney took a fairly light swipe at Sean O'Malley for the latter's submission loss to Merab Dvalishvili. This, though, drew the attention of UFC icon Chael Sonnen, who spoke up in defense of 'Sugar' with a post on X directed at Haney.

Haney, who has been the recipient of O'Malley's trash talk when the latter was pursuing boxing matches to no avail, took to X and shared a reminder of 'Sugar's' past conduct. He didn't say much besides that, but it was enough for Sonnen to step in with a reminder that O'Malley, an MMA fighter, would likely beat Haney in a fight.

'The American Gangster' wrote:

"Oh no Devin, he'd crush you. Wasn't kidding at all."

During his short reign as the UFC bantamweight champion, O'Malley began aiming for various super fights, like a potential featherweight clash with then 145-pound champion Ilia Topuria. Among the fights he hoped to land was a boxing match with Gervonta 'Tank' Davis.

This eventually led to O'Malley and Haney finding themselves in a war of words, although Haney wasn't the only boxer who took issue with O'Malley's belief that he could defeat Davis in a boxing match. It was part of 'Sugar's' attempt at emulating the great Conor McGregor, who was once his idol.

Unfortunately for O'Malley, he soon learned that modeling one's career after McGregor is no easy task. The Irishman's level of stardom is generational, and his boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr. was still a professional disaster, as he suffered a TKO loss, despite the career-high purse.

Now, coming off a lopsided defeat to Dvalishvili at UFC 316, which marked his second consecutive bantamweight title fight loss, O'Malley is at a career crossroads. He is unlikely to earn another title shot so long as Dvalishvili remains champion, so a move to another division could be in order.

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Devin Haney and Sean O'Malley once spoke about a fight

At the height of their animosity, Sean O'Malley challenged Devin Haney to a fight, mocking him for being protected by boxing's limited rule-set. He upped the stakes by betting $1 million that he would defeat Haney. This drew a response from 'The Dream' in a since-deleted post on X, which read as follows:

"I don't fight for a million dollars like you.. @SugaSeanMMA let's do a boxing fight & give us a shot at making real money!"

Of course, the bout never materialized. Haney had no interest in fighting in MMA, and the UFC would have never cleared O'Malley, or anyone for that matter, to compete in boxing.