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Sean O’Malley entered Saturday’s fight at UFC 280 with former bantamweight champ Petr Yan as a massive underdog. At one point, Yan was nearly a 3-to-1 favorite and he closed the week as a 2-to-1 favorite.
But O’Malley is no slouch. The 27-year-old is 15-1 in his MMA career and 7-1 in the UFC. Yan, however, was not deterred. The 29-year-old Russian, who sports a 20-4 career record, came out and looked like a fighter that was heavily favored in the opening round.
In fact, Yan appeared to win both of the first two rounds in the eyes of most fans. But O’Malley hung tough and some fans even gave him the third round on their scorecards. The overwhelming feeling, however, was that Yan had done enough to win by decision fairly comfortably.
Still, fans were impressed with O’Malley.
https://twitter.com/Actionman513/status/1583907892939194368?s=20&t=cJFu2ksmq-n4RJGvoOPLiw
can we agree that Sean O’Malley is better than what we all thought??? #UFC280
— Spinnin Backfist (@SpinninBackfist) October 22, 2022
Sean O'Malley is better than we thought.
Got up off the ground well and hurt Yan at one point #UFC280
— Weasle (@ThaWeasle) October 22, 2022
And then the decision came down from the judges.
AFTER A WILD FIGHT, SEAN O'MALLEY DEFEATS PETR YAN BY SPLIT DECISION 😮 #UFC280 pic.twitter.com/Hm08QAY83W
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 22, 2022
#UFC280 Official Result: Sean O’Malley (29-28, 29-28) defeats Petr Yan (29-28) by Split Decision
All Results: https://t.co/5xZpgPmKvt
[@VisitAbuDhabi | @InAbuDhabi | #InAbuDhabi]
— UFC News (@UFCNews) October 22, 2022
Even O’Malley appeared shocked to hear the outcome. Fans and fighters alike quickly went from praising the polarizing young star to absolutely trashing the UFC judges.
someone call the cops Petr Yan just got robbed in Abu Dhabi.
— Dillon Danis (@dillondanis) October 22, 2022
People just want me to be dishonest with how I score fights I guess. Yan was robbed! Rematch!!
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) October 22, 2022
Pett yan just got fucking robbed!#ufc280
— Swiss (@zatortihhhh) October 22, 2022
It seemed like everyone was in agreement.
I’m usually the one saying incorrect decisions are NOT robberies and people are overreacting. But in the case of Yan vs O’Malley, I have to agree with people. That was indeed a straight up robbery.
30-27 or 29-28 Yan. Any score for O’Malley is indefensible. #UFC280
— Fury’s Fight Picks (@LucaFury) October 22, 2022
Wow great fight amazing by both but the was pure robbery!!!#UFC280
— Jamahal Hill (@JamahalH) October 22, 2022
The UFC 280 fight card was always sure to leave fans with plenty to talk about. But this may just be the biggest talking point for weeks to come.