Sean O'Malley scored a Round 2 stoppage of Aiemann Zahabi at a UFC event held at the White House in Washington, but left frustrated after his walk-off knockout did not result in a post-fight bonus.
O'Malley expected the finish over Zahabi to be rewarded, but instead Ciryl Gane and Justin Gaethje took home Performance of the Night bonuses for their victories, with Gaethje also earning Fight of the Night honors.
"Then we did a f*cking pointless press conference where I didn't get a bonus, and it was f*cking ridiculous," O'Malley said afterward, making clear his displeasure with the outcome of the bonus announcements.
The bantamweight also reflected on the emotional stakes of his fights. "I was just telling Tim, like these wins feel good. Like it feels good, but if I would have lost, those are just so much worse than wins. It's like, why even do this sh*t?"
O'Malley previously lost his bantamweight title to Merab Dvalishvili in the UFC 306 headliner at the Sphere and viewed his performance in Washington as a personal answer to that setback. "It felt like I got to redeem myself from the Sphere fight," he said.
"That Sphere fight, very time it gets brought up, 'Oh, you fought at the Sphere.' I'm like, 'Yeah, well kind of.' It's just like now I feel like I got to redeem myself, and it felt good."
