After his win at UFC 324, what’s next for Sean O’Malley?

In the co-main event of UFC 324 this past Saturday, we saw a big time matchup in the bantamweight division. Former champion “Suga” Sean O’Malley (19-3) was looking to bounce back as he took on rising contender Song Yadong (22-9-1).

O’Malley admitted ahead of this fight that it would be tough given Song’s speed and power. That showed in the first couple of rounds as we saw the former champion a little tentative. In the first round, both men had their moments with O’Malley landing more up top with Song landing a lot of leg kicks.

Song did get a takedown near the end of the first round and it was extremely close. When watching live, I scored the first round ever so slightly for O’Malley, but I wouldn’t argue if you gave it to Song. The second round was a clear round for Song and he landed another takedown and got a decent amount of control.

The third round at UFC 324 was the most decisive. In that round, O’Malley really opened up his striking and he was busting up Song. He put an exclamation point on that round and I scored the fight 29-28 O’Malley. That said, given the first round, I expected this to be a split decision.

However, in the end, all three judges scored the fight the way I did and O’Malley won a unanimous decision.

What’s next after UFC 324?

O’Malley had the perfect callout after the fight was over and he called out current bantamweight champion Petr Yan. Yan and O’Malley fought once before with O’Malley winning a decision that many didn’t agree with. It’s a rematch that both men seem to want and the UFC could go in that direction.

However, O’Malley was honest and said in the post-fight that if the promotion gives Merab Dvalishvili a rematch against Yan (which they should do), he’s more than happy to take on another top contender. If O’Malley gets the title shot, it will 100% be at The White House given the desire to feature American fighters on that stage.

However, if O’Malley doesn’t get the title fight, there’s really two fights to look at. A matchup with Umar Nurmagomedov is a possibility and then there’s a really fun matchup with Cory Sandhagen. Guarantee that O’Malley’s next fight is one of the three options laid out here.