Sean O’Malley says Petr Yan was the fight he tried to get for UFC White House, not Aiemann Zahabi. O’Malley is now booked for Zahabi on June 14, but he made it clear that his first choice was a title rematch with the Russian champion he already edged at UFC 280.
O’Malley is 18-3 with one no contest and a former UFC bantamweight champion. Yan is 20-5 and the current two-time UFC bantamweight champion. O’Malley is coming off a win over Song Yadong after two title-fight losses to Merab Dvalishvili, while Yan’s next defense is still unresolved. O’Malley has already been tied to the Yan-Merab picture, including his plan to wait for the Yan vs. Merab winner.
O’Malley told FOX 11 Los Angeles that Yan was the matchup he expected before Zahabi became the assignment. Watch the interview below:
“I was supposed to fight Petr Yan, the champ, the little Russian, but I beat him last time so he didn’t want to fight this time,” O’Malley said. “That would have been a big fight. I’m fighting a guy named Aiemann Zahabi, he’s on a seven-fight win streak, he’s from Canada, a Canadian fella, so it’s kind of America vs. Canada-ish if you’re looking at it that way, which is kind of exciting.”
O’Malley Says Zahabi Brings A Striking Fight, Not A Detour
O’Malley did not sell Zahabi as an easy replacement. He pointed to Zahabi’s experience, toughness, and kickboxing approach as the reason the White House matchup should stay violent.
“Very tough, very durable, very experienced,” O’Malley said. “Very tough fight. An exciting challenge, he’s going to be more of a kickboxer style so it’s going to be a very exciting, electric kickboxing fight with little gloves on.”
In a separate Against The Cage interview, O’Malley said UFC executive Hunter Campbell called him shortly before the card was announced and asked if he wanted in. O’Malley said yes, then pushed for Yan when Zahabi’s name came up. Watch that interview below:
“Hunter called me, he said, ‘Hey, you want to be on here?’ So, I said, ‘Of course,’” O’Malley said. “He just said, ‘Okay, what do you think about Aiemann?’ I was like, ‘What about Petr?’ I wanted the Petr Yan fight. I thought that would be the fight to make, but it’s not.”
The White House setting also gives O’Malley vs. Zahabi a clean U.S. vs. Canada hook. O’Malley said he is not trying to make the fight political, but he understands why fans will pick sides.
“I’m not a very political person, I would say pretty much not at all,” O’Malley said. “For me, it doesn’t matter who I’m fighting, but it is America vs. Canada, there’s a little bit of that to it. This is just man vs. man. We’re going to get locked in the doors and see who quits, see who breaks, see who gets knocked out first, that’s what it is every fight for me.”
“But it is fun, there’s a little bit of the America-Canada thing, so it adds to it a little bit,” O’Malley said. “Team vs. team, people like to pick teams, so there’s that aspect to it, but for me it’s just human vs. human.”
O’Malley knows the cleanest route back to Yan is not complaining about the booking. It is beating Zahabi in the kind of way that forces the title talk back onto him.
“Who knows, maybe if I would have went out there and finished Song in spectacular fashion I would have got the Petr fight,” O’Malley said. “I don’t know. The UFC does what they do and all I can do is go out there and fight and put on performances, so if I go out there and get a beautiful performance, I don’t see how I’m not next for the title. If it is Merab-Petr next and Merab wins, we’ll see how that plays out.”
O’Malley wanted Yan, got Zahabi, and needs a finish-level performance if he wants the title argument back on his side.
