O'Malley Mocks Topuria's Take on Yan-Dvalishvili Scorecards

Sean O'Malley has taken a swipe at Ilia Topuria over the way Topuria scored the UFC 333 co-main event between Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili.

Yan won their third meeting by unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring it 48-47. Dvalishvili took the first two rounds. From the third, Yan found his rhythm, stuffed the takedown attempts and caught the Georgian off guard to take the last three rounds. The win kept Yan's bantamweight title, and he had already won the belt from Dvalishvili once before at UFC 323.

Not everyone agreed with the cards. Some fans thought Dvalishvili won the first three rounds and deserved the trilogy win. Topuria, a close friend of Dvalishvili, reacted live to the result and looked gutted when it was announced. "48-47 Yan? Nooo. What are you saying?" he said.

O'Malley's reply

O'Malley sees it differently. In a recent sit-down with The MMA Guru, he said Yan did more than enough to beat Dvalishvili and aimed a joke at Topuria's reaction.

"I heard Ilia saying, 'What fight are the judges watching?' I'm like, How hard did Justin Gaethje hit you? What fight were you watching, brother?"

The line refers to Topuria's fight with Gaethje at UFC Freedom 250. Gaethje is the new lightweight champion and is 37.

O'Malley has his own interest in the bantamweight picture. He is on a two-fight win streak and wants to be next in line against Yan, whom he beat by split decision in 2022. He says he has already started training for the fight and has called Yan out several times.

Topuria is expected to be ready to return from February 2027, according to his team, and all the injuries from UFC Freedom 250 have healed. He had pushed for a rematch with Gaethje, but the lightweight champion has shown no interest. Whenever Topuria does come back, a fight with Paddy Pimblett is widely expected. Pimblett most recently submitted Benoit Saint Denis in 52 seconds at UFC 329.

Source: MMA Sucka