“I don’t get on social media, and I feel like that’s changed my life,” Sean O’Malley remarked after UFC CEO Dana White confirmed his rematch with Merab Dvalishvili. Determined to reclaim the bantamweight title, ‘Suga’ has cut out distractions—but will that be enough? The MMA world has its doubts. In their last fight, O’Malley was overwhelmed, with Dvalishvili securing 10 minutes of control time and landing 214 of 310 strikes compared to O’Malley’s 49 of 91. Now, the question looms—can he turn the tide? Amidst the chaos, Daniel Cormier has come forward to give the former champion some necessary advice, and ‘Suga’ might want to listen.

Wrestling proved to be Sean O’Malley’s kryptonite against ‘The Machine.’ In their bout, beyond just control time and striking, Merab Dvalishvili completely shut down ‘Suga’ by successfully executing six takedowns out of 15 attempts. Cormier’s solution to this problem? A camp with Henry Cejudo! While having a conversation with Chael Sonnen on Good Guy/Bad Guy, Daniel Cormier expressed that despite their palpable anger against each other, Sean O’Malley should introspect on his fighting style and take help from Henry Cejudo: “He has that there’s a team called Valiant Prep. Eric Larkin and Henry Cejudo run that gym down there. He could get that in there. Hey, you know what’s the craziest thing—and I mean, I know it’ll never happen because they hate each other so much—if he really wanted to understand wrestling at that level, hell, Henry Cejudo’s in Phoenix too.”

He further added, “I know they hate each other, right? But how big are your goals, and how committed are you to them that you can put that thing to rest? Because at the end of the day, Sean O’Malley is still fighting for world titles.”  For the unreserved, Cejudo has always been critical of Sean O’Malley’s ascent to bantamweight stardom. According to the former dual weight champion, Dana White favored Sean O’Malley immensely in his early days to make him a star of the promotion. O’Malley, in response, has called out the former dual-weight champion for being “unbearable.”

Interestingly, the fighter in his recent ‘TimboSugarShow’ podcast has claimed that he will be shunning his social media as well as stop self-gratification: “I haven’t j’d the peen (mast—–) once this year – not once in 2025. Haven’t j’d the peen, and I haven’t been on social. I haven’t gamed, either. I quit gaming. I did a lot of gaming, two or three hours a day, and I need to fill it with something. We’ve been playing a lot of Texas Hold ‘Em poker with the fellas. It’s been too fun. It’s like gaming. You say, ‘One more hand.’ I quit smoking w—, too.” 

He has certainly taken enough steps to make sure that he wins his upcoming battle, but are they enough? Leaving a bad habit and striving for success through training are two different things. Henry Cejudo could be a tremendous asset for Sean O’Malley in his quest to dethrone the bantamweight champion, given Cejudo’s first-hand wrestling experience and deep understanding of Dagestani-style wrestling. Besides, he has fought and lost to Dvalishvili as well. So, he understands the champion better than most.

However, for O’Malley to set aside his pride and train alongside the former two-division champion would be a major step in itself, especially considering their history. ‘Suga’ is doing everything possible to reclaim his title, however, Daniel Cormier believes the former champion should leave no stone unturned in the rematch—but will he train with Cejudo? That’s the question. Because the former light-heavyweight and heavyweight champion has his own concerns about the fight. What are those?

Daniel Cormier underlines the red flag in Sean O’Malley’s reamtch against Merab Dvalishvili

The last time Sean O’Malley stepped into the Octagon, he was completely dominated by Merab Dvalishvili. A year later, the same matchup returns to the bantamweight altar — but will the result be the same? According to Daniel Cormier, the former bantamweight champion should take his steps very carefully. While discussing with Ben Askren, Cormier revealed that O’Malley suffered a torn labrum in his hip before his initial encounter against Merab Dvalishvili, and this dragged him down. “The only thing that’s worrisome for me, if it’s Sean O’Malley, what has he done? He supposedly was injured, right?” “

He further added, “He said he was hurt. Remember, it was the rotator cuff or something that was messed up. He was so hurt. That was part of the reason he lost, and he was going to be away for a while trying to get healthy. Not only that, he lost because he couldn’t stop takedowns. What do you think he has done in the nine months since the fight to improve that, especially if he was hurt at the beginning of the recovery, where he couldn’t wrestle? If you have a bad shoulder, you are not wrestling at the level that you need to wrestle in order to defeat Merab.”

Fighting with a bad hip against someone who is known to pick you up and throw you down is a no-brainer in the world of MMA, but Sean O’Malley believes he can pull off some miracle. While having a conversation on ‘The TimboSugar Show’, the former bantamweight champion ascertained that he is better now. “I’m going to be 70 percent better than I was in that first fight. I’m going to be significantly more mobile, agile, and in better shape. I’m gonna fight at my full potential.”

With UFC 316 coming soon, the UFC is preparing the stage for the next big thing for the bantamweight division. Given that, what are your thoughts on the hubbub? State your opinion in the comments below.