Sean O’Malley doesn’t function beneath the identical highlight as most fighters within the UFC so the expectations for his fights are all the time 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 largest celebrity on the UFC roster, however getting completely dealt with by Dvalishvili and dropping 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 most recent episode of The Fighter vs. The Author. “The place he’s not the hammer and he turns into the nail and if that opponent begins to model 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 struggle with Petr Yan previously, 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 in the course of the struggle.
“Sean O’Malley is used to doing fadeaway threes after the knockout,” Jouban stated. “Sean O’Malley in the course of the struggle dribbling the basketball. The perfect 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 any person steals your shine, it kills these sorts of guys.
“He is similar 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 every thing proper within the struggle bodily however mentally as nicely. 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 struggle.
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 very least a part of the rationale why Jouban believes O’Malley’s subsequent struggle would possibly find yourself being crucial second in his complete profession.
“I don’t know what Sean’s mentality goes to be,” Jouban stated. “How quickly does he wish to struggle once more? I consider this — he obtained dethroned on Saturday night time on the largest platform any fighter may ever be on, this considered one of 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 placing affair and it’s who’s the smoothest dance companion. We needed to see how he would fare towards an all-out grappler. He didn’t move the check. 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 placing affair, I feel O’Malley’s by no means the identical.”
As a result of O’Malley has all the time carried such confidence into his fights, Jouban can’t assist however surprise if that modifications after Dvalishvili wrote the ebook on methods to beat him.
From repeated takedowns to floor management to a relentless tempo, Dvalishvili by no means allowed O’Malley to settle into any type 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 feel it’s extra pivotal this subsequent struggle, this subsequent matchup,” Jouban stated. “As a result of you must 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 sort of matchups on the toes now, I don’t suppose the arrogance is ever there. The swagger is gone.
“His subsequent struggle, if it doesn’t go his manner, I feel O’Malley shouldn’t be the man that we thought he was. The profession trajectory is gone. Two losses in a row can be detrimental for him.”
