Sean O’Malley doesn’t function below 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 irrespective of the stakes, O’Malley falling to Merab Dvalishvili in pretty lopsided vogue on the historic UFC 306 card from Sphere in Las Vegas was in all probability a worst-case state of affairs for him. Previous to the occasion, O’Malley touted himself because the inheritor obvious to Conor McGregor as the most important celebrity on the UFC roster, however getting totally 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 newest episode of The Fighter vs. The Author. “The place he isn’t the hammer, and he turns into the nail, and if that opponent begins to fashion on them, and after they’re not styling and so they’re getting styled on, it defeats them.”
Whereas O’Malley has engaged in an all-out battle with Petr Yan prior to now, he’s principally dominated his competitors within the UFC, which included his knockout win over Aljamain Sterling to win the title. That every one modified on Saturday evening with Dvalishvili taking him down six instances with over 10 minutes of management time through the battle.
“Sean O’Malley is used to doing fadeaway threes after the knockout,” Jouban mentioned. “Sean O’Malley in the course of the battle dribbling the basketball. One of the best sniper, the precision. When he’s getting taken down, and Merab’s kissing him on the top 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 bought the Conor McGregor curse the place you are 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 all the things proper within the battle 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 evening, McGregor was dismantled by Nurmagomedov earlier than succumbing to a fourth-round face crank that ended the battle.
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 remains to be a large 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 no less than a part of the explanation why Jouban believes O’Malley’s subsequent battle may find yourself being a very powerful second in his total profession.
“I don’t know what Sean’s mentality goes to be,” Jouban mentioned. “How quickly does he wish to battle once more? I consider this — he bought dethroned on Saturday evening on the most important platform any fighter might ever be on, this certainly one of one [event at] Sphere. He bought 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 provide him Cory Sandhagen and now it’s a hanging 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 provide you with 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 hanging 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 marvel if that modifications after Dvalishvili wrote the e book on beat him.
From repeated takedowns to floor management to a relentless tempo, Dvalishvili by no means allowed O’Malley to settle into any form 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 needs to return to title competition within the close to future.
“That was a pivotal second in his profession Saturday however I feel it’s extra pivotal this subsequent battle, this subsequent matchup,” Jouban mentioned. “As a result of it’s important to come again and win in dominant vogue 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 boldness is ever there. The swagger is gone.
“His subsequent battle, if it doesn’t go his manner, I feel O’Malley is just not the man that we thought he was. The profession trajectory is gone. Two losses in a row can be detrimental for him.”
