Sean O'Malley has shifted his bantamweight GOAT pick once again, now declaring newly crowned UFC champion Petr Yan the greatest of all time after Yan ended Merab Dvalishvili's title reign at UFC 323.
O'Malley has cycled through several names for the bantamweight GOAT. He previously labeled Aljamain Sterling, then Dvalishvili, and now Yan as the division's best ever. O'Malley knocked out Sterling to become UFC bantamweight champion, then lost his title to Dvalishvili, who defeated him twice.
"I thought Aljo was the greatest of all time. I went out there and beat him," O'Malley said. "Merab goes on this crazy streak, I'm like, 'God, Merab is the greatest of all time.' Then Petr comes back, looks insane against Merab, I'm like, 'Petr is the greatest bantamweight of all time.' I do have a lot of respect for Petr."
O'Malley owns a win over Yan from their fight at UFC 280 in 2022, but his admiration for the Russian standout has only grown. "People in the community, people that know fighting know how skilled Petr Yan is," O'Malley added. "He's as good as it gets at MMA. He's up there with Ilia Topuria level skill, Jon Jones. He's all-around great everywhere."
After back-to-back title losses to Dvalishvili, O'Malley rebounded with wins over Song Yadong and Aiemann Zahabi, stopping Zahabi by knockout at UFC Freedom 250. He also believes a rematch with Yan would generate bigger numbers than a trilogy between Yan and Dvalishvili.
