With the loss of Kayla Harrison vs. Amanda Nunes due to a Harrison injury, it was Sean O’Malley vs. Song Yadong, a solid bantamweight scrap, serving as the UFC 324 co-main event on Saturday.
O’Malley, a former bantamweight champ and for a time a red-hot, skyrocketing UFC star, had lost back-to-back title fights against Merab Dvalishvili, dating back to 2024.
Yadong, part of Urijah Faber’s Team Alpha Male, was entering off a win over Henry Cejudo.
Song opened the fight with a low kick immediately, right off the touch of the gloves. O’Malley immediately put his footwork on display, with stance switches and in-and-out movement. O’Malley would later show off a spinning back kick to the body, while Yadong ran with more conventional attacks.
Through the first half of the round, O’Malley used his length well, showed plenty of feints with his hands, and kept his back off the cage. Yadong wasn’t taking much damage, but he wasn’t really landing anything either. In the back half of the round, he did try to close the distance, but O’Malley escaped, making sure to keep his back off the fence.
In the final minute, Yadong landed an outside kick, then powered into a takedown, landing it, off O’Malley’s own kick. “Suga” briefly defended with a guillotine, but didn’t have it, and Yadong finished the round working inside guard. Not a lot of damage, and not a lot of top time, in a close round overall.
Song Yadong landed a sharp leg kick early in the second frame. The Chinese bantamweight seemed to have a little more pep in his step after finishing the first with a takedown. Yadong’s right hand was there, but O’Malley changed stances, and fired a jab down the middle. Another stance switch, and another. Those stance switches and O’Malley’s speed were making Yadong’s leg kicks much less effective.
Two minutes in, Song caught a kick, and drove O’Malley back, looking to take Sean down. O’Malley, however, was able to fight that off, though Yadong stayed on him. Yadong would finally get the former champ down, with just over 90 seconds on the clock this time. O’Malley however scrambled out and back to his feet, though he had to be careful not to be caught by a Yadong punch. O’Malley fired a teep kick to the midsection. Song landed a left. The pair battled it out to the bell, with the third round likely being the one that would decide the fight, with it either 19-19, or 20-28 Yadong after two rounds.
Yadong opened round three firing right hands. O’Malley went to the body, fired his jab, then absorbed a leg kick from Yadong. O’Malley’s attacks were being answered with more volume in this round. O’Malley’s length was still serving him well enough, and Yadong shot wildly in on a takedown from too far out. Sloppy, and O’Malley easily pulled free. Still, Sean wasn’t doing enough offensively. Yadong, despite his face being bloodied, was the more aggressive fighter, and landing just slightly more. Yadong fanned on a spinning attack. He shot in on a takedown, with O’Malley pulling free. Sean landed a knee to the body seconds later. O’Malley landed a teep. O’Malley started coming on strong late, finishing with a punch and a high kick.
It was off to the judges, with O’Malley getting the nod on all three scorecards. After that, the “Suga Show” called for a title fight. “Petr Yan has something that I want. All respect to Merab, he gets the next shot, well deserved,” O’Malley said after the victory, telling Yan to take care of business with Merab.
Official Result: Sean O’Malley def. Sean Yadong by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
