Sean O’Malley is now the No. 1 ranked bantamweight in the UFC.
That’s according to the UFC’s official rankings, which were updated following UFC 280 to take O’Malley’s big win over Petr Yan into account. ‘Suga’ jumped ten spots up the list to replace Yan in the top position, just below 135 pound champion Aljamain Sterling.
That big move shifted the rest of the bantamweight top ten down a slot. T.J. Dillashaw, who lost to Aljamain Sterling in large part due to his decision to fight with a dislocated shoulder, slipped three spots down to the No. 5 spot.
In other ranking changes, Beneil Dariush moved up from No. 6 to No. 4 in the lightweight division following his win over Mateusz Gamrot. Belal Muhammad moved up from No. 5 to No. 4 in the welterweight rankings after to his TKO win over Sean Brady. And Manon Fiorot jumped five spots up to No. 1 at women’s flyweight following a decision win over Katlyn Chookagian. Chookagian slipped two spots, moving to No. 3 just under Taila Santos.
Conor McGregor also dropped down another spot in the lightweight rankings to No. 13.
Sean O’Malley’s victory at UFC 280 didn’t come without controversy. Many felt like O’Malley didn’t deserve the split decision nod over Yan. Even ‘Suga’ admitted after the fight that he wasn’t sure he had done enough to win. Regardless, that didn’t stop him from getting full credit for the victory in the official UFC rankings.
Getting credit in real life is another matter all together.
“Post-fight, some of you guys might have thought I lost, some of you might have thought I won,” O’Malley said on a YouTube livestream. “At the end of the day, they said I won.”
“It’s not my f—king fault,” he added later. “You guys wanna go tell the refs, the judges, that I lost, you wanna go tell Dana, tell whoever, but don’t tell me. Save it, boys, cuz that’s not what my record says.”
The win moves Sean O’Malley to 15-1 (1 No Contest) and puts him within range of a title shot. UFC president Dana White wasn’t ready to hype an O’Malley vs. Sterling championship bout, though. That didn’t bother ‘Suga’ at the UFC 280 post-fight press conference.
“It’s inevitable,” O’Malley declared. “I’m turning 28, and I’m going to be in this sport for a long time. People want me to be champ, so it’s going to happen sooner or later.”
What do you think should be next for Sean O’Malley, PENN Nation? A rematch with Petr Yan? A rematch with Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera? Or is he ready to face the champ Aljamain Sterling? Let us know in the comments.
This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM
