Sean O’Malley has a lot riding on his next fight, and he knows it.
O’Malley is clearly aware of the uncertainty around his future in the sport, having already spoken about not wanting to fight for too much longer.
The 31-year-old has not fought since he lost to Merab Dvalishvili last June but will be looking to get back in the win column later this month when he takes on Song Yadong at UFC 324 in Anaheim, California.
There is now even more pressure on O’Malley following the final PPV event of 2025. He is now targeting a rematch with Petr Yan after his former opponent reclaimed the bantamweight belt.
In that context, ‘Suga’ recently discussed how this upcoming fight feels different compared to any of his previous bouts.
Sean O’Malley shares how it will be the first time his daughter attends one of his fights
After seeing where he landed on the card for the first UFC event of 2026, O’Malley joked that he has ‘fallen off’.
The match-up with Song Yadong offers the 31-year-old American a shot at redemption, while also giving his opponent a chance to earn what would be the most significant win of his career so far.
O’Malley appeared to raise the stakes even further with some pre-fight antics during their face-off, which came after a fairly respectful build-up.
He is also thinking about something different ahead of this fight – it will be his first three-rounder since UFC 280 back in 2022, and someone special will be watching from the crowd at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
O’Malley mentioned on his YouTube channel that this will be the first time his daughter is there in person to watch him compete.
“Now she’s five, she’s actually gonna come to the fight for the first time. She’s come to a lot of the fight weeks and she just goes to the press conferences and the weigh-ins and she thought that was the fight… I’m like, that makes me feel different. A little bit different.
“I’ve never thought of like, [Donald] Trump’s been at the fight, obviously Dana [White], Mark Zuckerberg, like there’s been all these names but it’s just people. But, my little princess is going to be there watching and that’s exciting,” he admitted.
Sean O’Malley dismisses consecutive defeats as tough stylistic matchups
Before his second title defence at UFC 306, O’Malley was on an impressive run of form.
He mentioned in his training video that he wants to show people he is still that same fighter when he returns at UFC 324.
Both losses came against Dvalishvili, and O’Malley pointed out that the Georgian is a particularly difficult matchup for him.
He said in the video: “That guy’s still here. That guy’s showing up January 24. The last two fights against Merab, you know, hard matchup for me. Stylistically tough matchups. I’ll get that one back someday.”
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