"If He Wins, We're Next" - Sean O’Malley Backs Petr Yan to Beat Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 333

"Suga," who’s riding a two-fight win streak and most recently knocked out Aiemann Zahabi at The White House, believes if "No Mercy" gets his hand raised this weekend, the latter will most likely make the next defense of his strap against him.

Sean O’Malley Wants Petr Yan to Beat Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 333

During a recent sit-down, while lauding Yan and hoping the Russian beats Dvalishvili a second time, O'Malley said:

"Petr Yan is no joke. He is no goddamn joke, dude. He's one of the scariest guys in the UFC, 100%. Our last fight was three rounds, almost four years ago to the day. We fought on October 22, 2022, in Abu Dhabi. Now, he's defending his belt, and if he wins, we're next. We are fu*king next! We're rooting for Petr. But I do like Merab. He's a good f*cking guy. I like the fella."

Check out Sean O'Malley's comments below: 

However, if "The Machine" beats Yan and recaptures the bantamweight throne, chances of O’Malley getting a title shot next are unlikely since the Georgian previously dethroned "Suga" by decision and then submitted him when they ran it back in 2025. So a third fight does not make sense.

Dvalishvili believes he will get the belt back, and after that he will set his crosshairs on Song Yadong, who most recently knocked out the former’s archrival Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC Shanghai.

Sean O'Malley Worried Petr Yan Won't be Prepared for UFC 333 After Major Surgery 

Petr Yan had lower back surgery earlier this year, due to which the Dvalishvili trilogy bout was delayed.

During the same sit-down posted above, Sean O'Malley questioned how prepared Yan is for the fight after undergoing such a major operation and how it could affect his UFC 333 performance. O'Malley ran it back, "The Machine," a few months after going under the knife, and things did not play out in the American's favor, and now the latter belives the same can happen to Yan. He and his team added:

"If he had surgery in January, that would be nine months later... Those surgeries take four or five months just for your body to heal. He underwent lumbar and lumbosacral spine surgery. This really changes my thought process on this fight. I thought Peter was going to go in there and dominate, but him getting surgery that close to the fight changes everything."

Check out Sean O'Malley's comments below: