Sean O’Malley doesn’t function underneath the identical highlight as most fighters within the UFC so the expectations for his fights are at all times heightened.
Whereas a loss is devastating regardless of the stakes, O’Malley falling to Merab Dvalishvili in pretty lopsided style on the historic UFC 306 card from Sphere in Las Vegas was most likely a worst-case situation for him. Previous to the occasion, O’Malley touted himself because the inheritor obvious to Conor McGregor as the most important famous person on the UFC roster, however getting totally dealt with by Dvalishvili and shedding his title earned him one other comparability to the previous two-division champion from Eire.
“O’Malley additionally has the Conor McGregor curse,” Alan Jouban defined on the newest episode of The Fighter vs. The Author. “The place he isn’t the hammer, and he turns into the nail, and if that opponent begins to type on them, and once they’re not styling they usually’re getting styled on, it defeats them.”
Whereas O’Malley has engaged in an all-out conflict with Petr Yan prior to now, he’s largely dominated his competitors within the UFC, which included his knockout win over Aljamain Sterling to win the title. That each one modified on Saturday night time with Dvalishvili taking him down six occasions with over 10 minutes of management time throughout the combat.
“Sean O’Malley is used to doing fadeaway threes after the knockout,” Jouban mentioned. “Sean O’Malley in the course of the combat dribbling the basketball. The very best sniper, the precision. When he’s getting taken down, and Merab’s kissing him on the pinnacle and he’s doing the lookaways for the kicks, he was getting styled on and the psychological warfare, the subtleties there for a man that’s a star, when someone steals your shine, it kills these forms of guys.
“He is analogous to Conor, nice ones however he’s additionally obtained the Conor McGregor curse the place you’re taking away a star’s shine and also you watch them simply wither proper there. He wasn’t up for the large present on this matchup due to that. Merab did the whole lot proper within the combat bodily however mentally as properly. He took that confidence away from O’Malley.”
Jouban considered O’Malley’s loss to Dvalishvili in a similar way to McGregor being defeated by Khabib Nurmagomedov again in 2018. On that night time, McGregor was dismantled by Nurmagomedov earlier than succumbing to a fourth-round face crank that ended the combat.
Following that loss, McGregor sat out for 15 months earlier than lastly returning with a win over Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, however then he suffered back-to-back defeats to Dustin Poirier.
Regardless of these setbacks, McGregor continues to be an enormous draw however he’s by no means come near reaching the identical heights within the sport as he had previous to falling to Nurmagomedov six years in the past.
That’s at the least a part of the rationale why Jouban believes O’Malley’s subsequent combat would possibly find yourself being an important second in his complete profession.
“I don’t know what Sean’s mentality goes to be,” Jouban mentioned. “How quickly does he wish to combat once more? I consider this — he obtained dethroned on Saturday night time on the most important platform any fighter may ever be on, this one among one [event at] Sphere. He obtained dethroned. That’s going to take one thing away from him.
“Now he nonetheless has the chance to return again so [let’s say] they offer him Cory Sandhagen and now it’s a putting affair and it’s who’s the smoothest dance companion. We needed to see how he would fare in opposition to an all-out grappler. He didn’t cross the take a look at. Now we offer you a considerably favorable matchup. You wish to strike, you didn’t just like the takedowns, right here’s Cory Sandhagen. If he loses to Cory Sandhagen, Sean won’t ever be the identical. Now he’s misplaced to the grappler. Now he’s misplaced to the striker. There’s no extra. It’s not a fluke with the leg [injury against Chito Vera] … if Cory Sandhagen knocks you out or out factors you in a putting affair, I believe O’Malley’s by no means the identical.”
As a result of O’Malley has at all times carried such confidence into his fights, Jouban can’t assist however surprise if that modifications after Dvalishvili wrote the ebook on the way to beat him.
From repeated takedowns to floor management to a relentless tempo, Dvalishvili by no means allowed O’Malley to settle into any sort of a rhythm whereas touchdown solely 49 strikes over 5 rounds in comparison with 214 for the brand new UFC bantamweight champion.
Prefer it or not, Jouban believes O’Malley now has to show himself once more if he desires to return to title rivalry within the close to future.
“That was a pivotal second in his profession Saturday however I believe it’s extra pivotal this subsequent combat, this subsequent matchup,” Jouban mentioned. “As a result of it’s a must to come again and win in dominant style and say ‘I wish to reclaim my title.’ But when he loses two in a row and completely different kind of matchups on the toes now, I don’t assume the boldness is ever there. The swagger is gone.
“His subsequent combat, if it doesn’t go his means, I believe O’Malley will not be the man that we thought he was. The profession trajectory is gone. Two losses in a row can be detrimental for him.”
