Sean O’Malley Wants Song Yadong vs. Merab If Dvalishvili Wins Title
Sean O’Malley did not need long to redraw the bantamweight title picture. After Song Yadong knocked out Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC Shanghai, the former champion said Song vs. Merab Dvalishvili should be next if Dvalishvili gets the belt back.
O’Malley made the case in a reaction video posted to his own channel Saturday. He framed it as a matchup he has been pointing to for years, not a take invented after one knockout.
“I’ve been saying for a couple years that Song is a problem for Merab.”
He then made the booking as clear as he could.
“If Merab wins the title.. Song vs. Merab.”
That comment landed only hours after Song stopped Nurmagomedov at 1:48 of Round 2 in the UFC Fight Night 286 main event at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center. Song improved to 24-9-1 overall and 13-4-1 in the UFC with the biggest win of his career.
Nurmagomedov, a former title challenger who entered ranked No. 2, fell to 20-2 and 8-2 inside the promotion. It was the first knockout loss of his professional career and the end of a two-fight climb back toward gold.
Song came in ranked No. 6 and as a sizable underdog. He had already called for a title shot in the cage, and he later said he believed he could finish champion Petr Yan, Dvalishvili, or O’Malley in a rematch.
O’Malley is the one man among that group who already has a win over Song. He took a close unanimous decision at UFC 324 in January, with all three judges scoring it 29-28, then knocked out Aiemann Zahabi in June at UFC Freedom 250.
The former champion is now 20-3 and riding a two-fight winning streak. He has spent much of 2026 arguing that a rematch with Yan is the biggest fight the division can make.
That context matters because O’Malley’s Saturday comment was narrower than a blanket endorsement of Song as the next title challenger. He did not say Song should jump Yan. He said Song should be the fight if Dvalishvili is the one holding the belt.
Yan (20-5) defends against Dvalishvili (21-5) in a trilogy at UFC 333 on Oct. 24 in Abu Dhabi. The two are 1-1, with Dvalishvili winning the first meeting and Yan taking the title in their rematch at UFC 323 last December.
O’Malley’s own history sits on both sides of that fight. He beat Yan by split decision at UFC 280 in 2022, then lost the title to Dvalishvili at UFC 306 and was submitted in their rematch at UFC 316.
Earlier this week, he told UFC on Paramount+ that a third fight with Dvalishvili was not what fans wanted. He also said a Yan win on Oct. 24 would be the cleaner path back to gold.
Saturday’s reaction fit that same map. If Dvalishvili becomes champion again, O’Malley is pointing the UFC toward Song Yadong vs. Merab Dvalishvili instead of lining himself up for a third meeting with a man who already beat him twice.
There is a stylistic case for that idea, and it is the one O’Malley actually made. Song is a pressure striker with finishing power, and he just timed a level-change uppercut to put away one of the division’s best wrestlers.
Whether the UFC sees it the same way is another question. Song has now won two straight, including a submission of former flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo in May, but official rankings had not yet been reshuffled after Shanghai.
O’Malley remains a top-ranked former champion with a win over the current titleholder. Song remains the fighter who just produced the most violent result at 135 pounds this year.
None of that next fight is booked. Yan and Dvalishvili are the only bantamweight title pairing on the calendar, and the UFC has not named a challenger for the winner.
The October result will decide which version of O’Malley’s map is even available. If Yan keeps the belt, the former champion has already said the rematch is the fight that makes the most sense.
If Dvalishvili climbs back on top, O’Malley has now put a different name forward. In his view, the problem waiting for Merab is Song Yadong.