Disapproving Sean O’Malley’s Injury Concerns, Dana White Throws Shade at Lackluster Performance Against Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306

UFC 306 paved the way for a scintillating event filled with great performances and immaculate entertainment. The main event of the night had the fighting community concerned about Sean O’Malley. ‘Suga’ is indeed known for his explosive strength and accurate striking abilities. However, fighting Merab Dvalishvili at Noche UFC meant that he couldn’t show off those offensive capabilities.

This got the fight fans wondering about his health. The MMA community got to know that the former bantamweight champion had a torn labrum before going into the fight. But when this point was thrown in front of Dana White, he disregarded the injury and commented on O’Malley’s performance at UFC 306.

Dana White laments Sean O’Malley’s performance

During the press conference for Dana White’s Contender Series 72, a reporter pointed at ‘Suga’s torn labrum and asked if the doctors had any way of knowing about the injury. But White wasn’t happy with O’Malley being secretive about it.

He said, “If these guys come in and they have something that we don’t know. I mean, how would the doctors check for a torn labrum? You know what I mean? You can’t!” Right after that, the reporter asked Dana White’s thoughts on O’Malley’s performance against Merab Dvalishvili.

The UFC head honcho said, “Literally everybody reached out to me that night and said Sean O’Malley didn’t look like himself. He didn’t look explosive, he didn’t look, you know, all the same stuff we were all saying that night. Not to take anything from Merab, but, I mean everybody felt that way.”

Even though he was in immense pain, ‘Suga’ ensured that the fight went on for 25 minutes. His resilience earned him appreciation from all quarters. However, it was ‘The Machine’ who emerged triumphant and became the new UFC bantamweight championship belt.

Now that the fight is done and dusted, Sean O’Malley revealed the details of his injury on his YouTube talk show. And yes. Repairing a torn labrum does require surgery.

‘Suga’ will undergo surgery to treat his injury

A couple of days after the events of Riyadh Season Noche UFC, O’Malley took to his podcast and revealed that injured his labrum about 10 weeks ago. Needless to say, he was pretty upset about his loss at UFC 306. But with surgery and rehabilitation, the bantamweight fighter could be out of action for a while.

‘Suga’ said, “I have surgery on Oct. 3… I tore my labrum 10 weeks ago… I tore my left labrum in my hip. That’s the only reason I’m gonna be out for so long. This surgery should only take like two months to come back from, then a couple months recovery. A year is a long time, could be six to eight months… You never know.”

Fight fans expect O’Malley to face the bantamweight champion as he re-establishes himself in the rankings upon his comeback. But will he retain his energy and power after the rehab? Only time will tell. What are your thoughts on O’Malley’s injury? Do you think the outcome of the fight would have been different had ‘Suga’ not been injured? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.