UFC star Sean O’Malley has shared his potential plans for retirement leading up to his next fight at UFC 316.
This weekend, the former UFC Bantamweight Champion is set to compete in another main event, facing Merab Dvalishvili in Newark, New Jersey.
Merab Dvalishvili was the fighter who took O’Malley’s title last September at UFC 306, securing a victory by unanimous decision.
After undergoing successful surgery for a torn labrum, Sean O’Malley expressed high confidence heading into his championship rematch with Dvalishvili at UFC 316.
Should he win on Saturday, O’Malley is looking forward to what comes next, whether that involves a third fight with Dvalishvili or matchups against other top contenders in the division.
Considering his future, fans might wonder how much longer O’Malley intends to remain in professional fighting.
Sean O’Malley Aims to Retire Around Age 37 or 38
O’Malley, currently 30 years old, marked his 10th year as a professional mixed martial artist this year.
Having joined the UFC when he was 22, O’Malley estimated that he could potentially continue fighting for another seven to eight years.
“I wanna fight till I’m 37, 38,” O’Malley shared during an interview with ESPN MMA.
“I’ll fight as long as my body holds up,” O’Malley continued. “For that to be the case, I have to take recovery as serious as I take training, and I have been doing that, and I think it’ll pay off. I’m 30 now. I think I got some good years in me.”
Sean O’Malley Concedes He Shouldn’t Have Accepted the Merab Dvalishvili Fight at UFC 306 Under the Circumstances
O’Malley admitted that his preparation conditions were not ideal leading into his first bout with Dvalishvili at UFC 306.
He stated he was far from 100% due to a torn labrum injury. However, O’Malley explained that the opportunity to headline the event at the billion-dollar Sphere was something he felt he could not refuse at the time.
Reflecting on his performance in the first fight against Dvalishvili, O’Malley remarked, “I was proud of my performance considering how I felt going into the fight. I don’t wanna have excuses. It wasn’t a great camp, but it was a good camp for what I was able to do. I was, I don’t wanna say overconfident. I was underestimating Merab’s skill. I know how good he is. I just believed in myself that much…”
“So looking back on it, yeah, I probably shouldn’t have accepted the fight,” O’Malley conceded. He elaborated on the timeline, stating, “I tore my labrum, my hip ten weeks before the fight. Eight weeks before the fight, Hunter called me and said, ‘Hey, you got the Sphere…’ And I was like, I’m not gonna turn that down.”
O’Malley also mentioned a personal premonition he had regarding a potential loss to Dvalishvili at UFC 306, citing finding a dead owl on his driveway just 10 days before their fight.
Jack Thornley