Sean O’Malley wanted Petr Yan at UFC White House: ‘I beat him last time so he didn’t want to fight’

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - OCTOBER 20: (L-R) Opponents Petr Yan of Russia and Sean O'Malley face off during the UFC 280 press conference at Etihad Arena on October 20, 2022 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)

Sean O’Malley is excited to be fighting at UFC White House, but Aiemann Zahabi wasn’t his first option.

Coming off of a much-needed win over Song Yadong this past January, O’Malley kept himself in the thick of the bantamweight title picture, especially with rival Merab Dvalishvilli—who holds two wins over O’Malley—having recently dropped the belt to Petr Yan. For O’Malley, who beat Yan in a close fight at UFC 280, it made sense for the two of them to rematch with a championship on the line, but O’Malley was instead called upon to face Zahabi on June 14, while Yan remains unbooked.

According to O’Malley, it was more Yan’s side that didn’t want to run it back.

“I was supposed to fight Petr Yan, the champ, the little Russian, but I beat him last time so he didn’t want to fight this time,” O’Malley told FOX 11 Los Angeles. “That would have been a big fight. I’m fighting a guy named Aiemann Zahabi, he’s on a seven-fight win streak, he’s from Canada, a Canadian fella, so it’s kind of America vs. Canada-ish if you’re looking at it that way, which is kind of exciting.

“Very tough, very durable, very experienced. Very tough fight. An exciting challenge, he’s going to be more of a kickboxer style so it’s going to be a very exciting, electric kickboxing fight with little gloves on.”

Regardless of whether it was Yan or Zahabi, O’Malley will enjoy a home field advantage of sorts when he makes his walk at the White House. The Montana native’s past three opponents have all come from outside the United States and while O’Malley doesn’t want to lean too far into the U.S. against the world angle, he sees the storyline potential with Canada’s Zahabi.