Sean O'Malley is advised to leave the Bantamweight Division after losing UFC champion Merab Dvalishvili twice.
The former UFC Bantamweight Champion is in a strange place after back-to-back title fight losses for Dvalishvili. Sean O'Malley went the distance against Merab Dvalishvili on UFC 306 in September, where he lost a unanimous decision.
Eight months later, O'Malley again lost to Dvalishvili, this time by submitting in the main event of UFC 316.
O'Malley could be out of the title photo with DvalishVili for a while as a champion, so that the future of the UFC Superstar is questioned at 135 pounds.
A former UFC champion that fought over two weight distributions suggests that O'Malley does the same after a repeat loss for 'the machine' Dvalishvili.
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Luke Rockhold says Sean O'Malley should move to the featherweight division
Former UFC and StrikeForce Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold thinks that the 5'11 ”O'Malley would ensure a good feather weight.
Rockhold left the middleweight division for a battle in light heavyweight against future champion Jan Bachowicz. In the end, the movement did not go a weight class according to plan for Rockhold, which lost due to brutal knockout.
Yet Rockhold thinks that a switch to featherweight is worth exploring for 'Suga'.
“O'Malley is also a big guy,” said Rockhold on the Jaxxon Podcast.
“I would like to see him go up to 45.
“He could do some weight training and do something else. It would be very interesting to see.
“O'Malley would be big at 45,” said Rockhold about the former Bantam weight champion.
UFC legend Chael Sonnen also said that O'Malley could be forced a featherweight movement with the loss against Dvalishvili.
Luke Rockhold believes that Sean O'Malley Rematch should avoid Aljamain Sterling
It is no secret that O'Malley struggled with the wrestling of Merab Dvalishvili.
If O'Malley Bantamweight were to leave, he would be in the same division again as former champion and rival Aljamain Sterling.
Sterling is one of the greatest hunters and wrestlers that the Bantamweight Division has ever seen.
“If you are O'Malley, that is the last fight I am now doing,” said Rockhold about a possible rematch with Sterling.
“That's the last fight …
“I fight a striker, dog,” Rockhold added.
O'Malley Tko'ed Sterling to win the Bantamweight title at UFC 292 in 2023.
Now ranked #9 in the featherweight division, Sterling insisted that he was 50% for the previous title fight and called for a rematch with O'Malley after his title fight for his teammate Dvalishhvili on UFC 316.