Sean O’Malley announces he’s fighting Petr Yan at UFC 280

Sean O’Malley will be having the toughest test of his career in October.

O’Malley did an interview on ESPN and revealed he will be fighting Petr Yan at UFC 280 on October 22 in Abu Dhabi. It’s a massive fight for the bantamweight division and serves as the biggest step-up in competition for O’Malley. The UFC has yet to officially announce the fight.

This is also a fight both men have wanted in the past as prior to O’Malley’s fight at UFC 276, both men expressed interest in the bout.

“I would love to fight again, one more time, by the end of the year,” O’Malley told ESPN. “November-December would be a great timeframe. I know there’s a lot of big fights playing out. The (Marlon) ‘Chito’ (Vera)-Dominick Cruz fight is something I’m looking at. Little Russian dude (Yan) is running around – (I) might beat him up. Fob Ront (Rob Font), he’s out there. There’s a bunch of guys out there that could potentially be my next fight. I’ve still got to focus on (Saturday), obviously – always make sure I say that. So I don’t want to get ahead of myself. July 2, Pedro Munhoz is the next challenge. But I’m excited for the future. There’s a lot of big fights for me.”

Hey pink poodle @SugaSeanMMA , if you win on Saturday and really wanna fight me I dare you to call me out and I will accept it. But if you just wanna make useless noise for hype, stop talking about me, coward 🐩

— Petr “No Mercy” Yan (@PetrYanUFC) July 1, 2022

Sean O’Malley (15-1 and one No Contest) is coming off the No Contest against Pedro Munhoz at UFC 276 due to an accident eye poke. Prior to that, he was on a three-fight win streak with stoppage wins over Raulian Paiva, Kris Moutinho, and Thomas Almeida. His lone loss came by TKO due to an ankle injury against Marlon Vera. This will be the first time O’Malley fights someone ranked in the top-five, as Yan is ranked number one.

Petr Yan (16-3) suffered a split decision loss to Aljamain Sterling for the bantamweight title last time out. He entered the fight as the interim champ after earning a decision win over Cory Sandhagen after losing his belt by DQ against Sterling. The Russian became the champ with a TKO win over Jose Aldo while also holding notable wins over Urijah Faber, Jimmie Rivera, and John Dodson.

With the addition of O’Malley vs. Yan, UFC 280 is as follows:

• Charles Oliveira vs. Islam Makhachev
• Aljamain Sterling vs. TJ Dillashaw
• Belal Muhammad vs. Sean Brady
• Petr Yan vs. Sean O’Malley

Who do you think will win, Sean O’Malley or Petr Yan?