Sean O’Malley versus Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306 was supposed to be explosive. But the former was taken down six times, and it turned out to be a completely one-sided affair as Dvalishvili dominated the battle. ‘Suga’ failed to create any sort of opening to use his striking, which gave his opponent the opportunity to apply relentless pressure with his wrestling, completely neutralizing the former champion. Sean O’Malley simply wasn’t himself. This reminded people of something Henry Cejudo said days before UFC 306.

“He doesn’t know how to get off of bottom. He’s having trouble. I have three training partners that gone out there that’s all told me the same sh*t. Just like when I’m injured, he always knows, he’s tweeted out like, ‘Hey, when I lost to Merab Dvalishvili, he knew that I was injured,’” he shared on Pound 4 Pound with Kamaru Usman. Was Cejudo insinuating that O’Malley was injured? That’s what fans felt after O’Malley admitted he was injured.

In a new conversation with streamer Adin Ross, the athlete stated, “I have surgery on Oct. 3. I tore my left labrum in my hip… That’s the only reason I’m going to be out for so long. This surgery should only take two months to come back from, then a couple of months of recovery. A year is a long time, could be six to eight months. You never know.”

He revealed that he was injured about 10 weeks ago but still decided to go through training camp and the UFC 306 fight because he wanted to defend his title the second time. What did Dana White have to say about this?

When White was asked about the promotion of letting fighters compete even when injured, the UFC CEO cleared things up. “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.”

O’Malley has been already receiving a lot of criticism after his performance at UFC 306. After all that trash talk and promising to knock out Dvalishvili, O’Malley couldn’t even get close to him. So, what do the fans think about his latest injury update? It seems they are forced to believe that the 29-year-old is just finding a reason to justify his loss at UFC 306.

Fans find it hard to believe that Sean O’Malley fought while injured at UFC 306!

After his fight, Sean O’Malley made it clear that he would take a break. During his podcast with his coach, Tim Welsh, he admitted he could return to fighting only after a year. But fans have a completely different take on the whole injury claim.

• “Well well this is how it starts.”
• “There are the excuses now took 2 days”

One of O’Malley’s biggest strengths is his kicking and his movement inside the Octagon. He is a master in cutting angles and maintaining distance. But it seems it was his injury that affected his movement. Referring to this, a social media user opined, “Well that explains the lack of kicking and activity overall.”

Further, remember how Cejudo was hinting that something was wrong with O’Malley? Well, fans believe him now.

• “Damnit cejudo was right. Prop”
• “Look like Henry Cejudo was right after all.” 

The stats show that ‘The Machine’ outclassed ‘Suga’ 214 to 49 on total strikes and 82 to 47 on significant strikes. A far cry from the sniper-style striking that O’Malley is famous for. Dvalishvili was visibly more active on the feet and constantly stayed a moving target. When O’Malley landed the few strikes that he did, the Georgian felt it. In the closing moments, there was a big reaction to a teep kick that the former champion landed. But by then, it was too little, too late.

One of the users advised the former champion to focus on his injury and commented, “Yeah, take a full year, Sean.” Sean O’Malley, without a doubt, was nowhere close to his best at UFC 306. It might benefit him to go through his surgery and get better before entering the octagon. Hopefully, he can get back to full fitness and fight for the title again.

What do you feel about his injury update? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.