5 Defining Moments: Sean O’Malley

Life could not be going any more swimmingly for Sean O’Malley.

The 29-year-old Montana native will put his undisputed Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight title on the line against Merab Dvalishvili in the UFC 306 main event on Saturday at the Sphere in Las Vegas. O’Malley steps back into the spotlight riding a seven-fight unbeaten streak. He has delivered 12 of his 18 career victories by knockout or technical knockout, nine of them inside one round, and has compiled a 10-1 record with one no contest across his 12 appearances in the UFC.

UFC 306: O'Malley vs. Dvalishvili Saturday at 10 ET on ESPN+. Order Now!
As O’Malley approaches his high-stakes battle with Dvalishvili at 135 pounds, a look at five of the many moments that have come to define him:

1. Welcome to The Show

O’Malley introduced himself to a much wider audience and secured his spot on the UFC roster during Season 1 of Dana White’s Contender Series as he punched out Glendale Fighting Club’s Alfred Khashakyan in the first round of their July 18, 2017 pairing at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Khashakyan bowed out 4:14 into Round 1. O’Malley navigated some choppy waters on the ground and managed to get back to his feet, where his height and reach advantages proved decisive. He decked Khashakyan with a right hand, opened a cut above his right eye and applied maximum pressure. O’Malley then slipped a punch, leveled the Californian with another right upstairs and walked away without having to fire another shot. More than seven years later, Khashakyan has yet to reach the UFC.

2. No Respect for Elders

In a signal to the mixed arts world that he was indeed ready for primetime, O’Malley flattened former World Extreme Cagefighting champion Eddie Wineland in the first round of their UFC 250 bantamweight showcase on June 6, 2020 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Wineland was sent packing 1:54 into Round 1. O’Malley circled on the perimeter, probed for openings and connected with a spinning back kick to the body. The MMA Lab prospect then reset, feinted and sent a devastating straight right crashing into Wineland’s jaw, flipping the switch on the respected veteran in an instant. The Duneland Vale Tudo product collapsed backward, his head bouncing violently off the canvas. No follow-up attacks were necessary, as referee Herb Dean arrived to cordon off the scene.

3. A Matter of Resolve

O’Malley rebounded from his first professional defeat and di so in style, as he swept aside Thomas Almeida with punches in the third round of their UFC 260 bantamweight feature on March 27, 2021 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The once-ballyhooed Almeida succumbed to blows 3:52 into Round 3. O’Malley controlled virtually every second of the fight. He dazed Almeida with a head kick in the first round, dropped him with a left hook and stepped away in a bid for a walk-off knockout. However, the Brazilian was not yet finished. Almeida recovered despite significant damage to his nose and waded forward into further peril. O’Malley connected on a counter left late in the third round, followed his suddenly supine adversary to the canvas and uncorked a devastating standing-to-ground right hand that brought it to an emphatic close.

4. Penthouse Reservations

The audacious O’Malley brought down Aljamain Sterling with punches in the second round of their UFC 292 main event, where he captured the undisputed bantamweight crown on Aug. 19, 2023 at the TD Garden in Boston. Sterling met his end 51 seconds into Round 2, suffering his first defeat in almost six years. O’Malley spent much of an uneventful first round getting reads and utilizing feints. He slipped on a misfired kick early in the second, returned to an upright position and lured in Sterling, who overextended on a straight left. O’Malley countered with a picture-perfect right cross that sent the champion into a nosedive onto all fours. He followed up with standing-to-ground hammerfists and continued to let the punches fly until the job was done.

5. Retaliatory Strikes

O’Malley avenged the only blemish on his resume and did so with near-flawless precision, as he retained his undisputed bantamweight title with a unanimous decision over Marlon Vera in the UFC 299 headliner on March 9, 2024 at the Kaseya Center in Miami. Scores were 50-45, 50-45 and 50-44. Vera—who had beaten “Suga Sean” in their first encounter in August 2020—had no recourse for the champion’s hand speed, footwork and distance management in the rematch. O’Malley blasted him with one-twos, switched stances almost instinctively and peppered him with jabs from both hands. He connected with a concussive knee strike in the second round that may have knocked out every other bantamweight in the world; the notoriously durable Vera ate it without so much as a buckle. Nevertheless, the Ecuadorian was outgunned from start to finish. He did leave O’Malley something by which to remember him—he tore into the Montana native’s body with a left hook—at the very end of Round 5, but it was far too little too late. By the time it was over, Vera’s swollen face looked as if he had unknowingly bumped into a hornet’s nest.