Getty Sean O'Malley wins against Petr Yan.
Former UFC superstar Nate Diaz shared his theory on the backlash from fellow fighters over Sean O’Malley’s recent win.
This past Saturday, O’Malley took on former bantamweight interim titleholder Petr Yan at UFC 280. O’Malley and Yan delivered a close-fought war that earned Fight of the Night honors on a stacked card. Although Yan dropped O’Malley and connected with some good strikes, ‘Suga’ Sean edged out the top contender by a split decision that many felt could have gone either way.
Fellow fighters and fans expressed their disapproval of the razor-thin result on social media and argued that Yan got robbed of a win. In the immediate aftermath of the bout, O’Malley stated he would need to watch the fight again to share his thoughts on whether he deserved to get the nod or not.
On Oct. 25, O’Malley took to his Twitter to give his final verdict on the fight, writing, “Just rewatched the fight, def won.”
Just rewatched the fight, def won. ❤️
Diaz Says Fighters Are Bashing O’Malley Because They Are Told To
A fan responded to O’Malley’s tweet, disputing his analysis: “9/10 of your peers disagree.”
Diaz hit back at the user who presented criticism from the roster as his evidence. While many were on Yan’s side, Diaz claimed they were not keeping it real.
“That’s cause they been owned and told how it goes,” he tweeted.
@0Wilfred2 @SugaSeanMMA That’s cause they been owned and told how it goes
In September, fan-favorite Diaz completed the final outing on his contract with the promotion against Tony Ferguson at UFC 279. He was originally lined up to face undefeated rising prospect Khamzat Chimaev in the main event but got paired with ‘El Cucuy’ after Chimaev came in overweight. Diaz put in an impressive performance to finish Ferguson in round four with a guillotine choke.
O’Malley Was Happy With How the Fight Played Out
‘Suga’ Sean entered the bout as a sizeable underdog and managed to pull off the biggest win of his career. While he had to endure some challenges, O’Malley was satisfied in his performance.
“I was a 4-1 underdog a couple of days ago. Post-fight, some of you guys might have thought I lost, some of you might have thought I won,” said O’Malley on a live stream on his YouTube channel. “At the end of the day, they said I won. I have to rewatch the fight. I’m excited to though, Tim has been in the f***ing bathroom for 15 minutes just screaming in there… tough fight.”
“Happy with how it played out as far as, landed big shots, ate some big shots. Every time I was orthodox, he was a southpaw, he’d throw this f***ing left body kick so sneaky and so fast. I know there’s levels to this game and I said going into the matchup, he’s the best version of that style. That little f***er proved it,” he added. “Quick kicks to the body, landed a couple of good punches, didn’t feel super strong on the takedowns, he had some good entries where he was pretty deep on the shots to where he had my legs.
“He took me down, I didn’t really feel like I was in any danger too much on my back. I didn’t land too many shots while I was on the ground.”