One of Sean O’Malley’s UFC rivals, Petr Yan, accused the recently dethroned champion of being pregnant during his absence from the Octagon.
Not long after being dominated by Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306, O’Malley announced he was taking time off due to a torn labrum that would sideline him for 9 to 12 months.
Following his UFC Macau victory on November 23, Yan appeared on the Ariel Helwani Show on Tuesday and delivered a smart jab towards his famous foe. Yan, who convincingly defeated Deivison Figueiredo last month, made the joke while discussing a rematch with O’Malley.
“You know, is this going to happen? “I would lean towards a rematch with Sean O’Malley, but I don’t know,” Yan said.
‘What’s wrong with him? He’s been out for nine to 12 months, so he might have gotten pregnant,” he added.
Petr Yan accused Sean O’Malley of being ‘pregnant’ during his nine-month absence from the cage
The Russian kept the jokes coming on social media after the interview. Yan reposted the clip from Helwani’s show, asked O’Malley about his due date and tagged him in the caption.
Not one to shy away from verbal sparring, O’Malley ran with the joke as he got the last laugh in the exchange.
“I predict it will be early in the second quarter. Against Merab. Thanks for asking,” Suga replied, referring to a rematch with Dvalishvili upon his return to the cage.
Yan became O’Malley’s first real test en route to the UFC bantamweight title when they squared off in 2022. While the American knockout artist emerged victorious, the split Decision divided the fanbase due to the close nature of the fight.
From there, O’Malley won the title by knocking out Aljamain Sterling – who defeated Yan for the crown in 2021 – and defending it against Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera before dropping the title to Dvalishvili.
O’Malley defeated Yan via split decision before knocking out Aljamain Sterling to win the title in 2023
On the other hand, Yan suffered his third straight defeat to Dvalishvili after dropping strikes against Sterling and O’Malley before scoring two wins in 2024. No Mercy scored decisions over Song Yadong and Figueiredo to return to the win column.
O’Malley remains the No. 1 contender in the bantamweight division and No. 13 in the pound-for-pound rankings with an 18-2 record.
Meanwhile, Yan is behind fellow countryman Umar Nurmagomedov in third place in the 135-lb rankings at 18-5.