Sean O’Malley reveals retirement timeline ahead of UFC 316 rematch with Merab Dvalishvili

Sean O’Malley has shared his retirement plans ahead of UFC 316.

This weekend in Newark, New Jersey, the former UFC Bantamweight Champion finds himself in another main event against Merab Dvalishvili.

It was Dvalishvili who dethroned O’Malley last September at UFC 306, taking his title by unanimous decision.

Following a successful surgery on his torn labrum, Sean O’Malley is confident as ever heading into his title rematch with Dvalishvili at UFC 316.

With a win on Saturday, O’Malley looks forward to the future, whether that be a trilogy with Dvalishvili or fights against top contenders.

Speaking of the future, how long does O’Malley have left in the fight game?

Sean O’Malley says he wants to retire at 37 or 38

O’Malley, 30, celebrated his 10th anniversary as a pro MMA fighter this year.

A UFC fighter since 22, O’Malley believes he could see himself fighting for another 7-8 years.

“I wanna fight till I’m 37, 38,” O’Malley told 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,” O’Malley said.

[embedded content]

Sean O’Malley admits he shouldn’t have taken Merab Dvalishvili fight at UFC 306

O’Malley didn’t have the best of circumstances preparing to fight Dvalishvili the first time at UFC 306.

Far from 100% due to his torn labrum injury, O’Malley says headlining the billion-dollar Sphere was an offer he couldn’t refuse at the time.

“I was proud of my performance considering how I felt going into the fight,” O’Malley reflected on his first fight with Dvalishvili.

“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 admitted.

“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 says he had a premonition he’d lose to Dvalishvili at UFC 306 when a dead owl showed up on his driveway 10 days out from their fight.