UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan has claimed that the UFC gave Sean O’Malley a match-up against Aiemann Zahabi that they new he could win this past weekend at the White House.

“The UFC were afraid for you!” Yan wrote to O’Malley on Instagram Stories. “They needed to be sure that you would win in the White House! They didn’t want you to get beaten in the White House!

“I gave my consent! That’s why they gave you someone you can at least handle!”

O’Malley was certainly a strong favorite heading into his fight with Zahabi on Sunday night, and that proved to be correct as he comfortably fought his way to a second round TKO victory.

With O’Malley having also beaten Song Yadong back in January, that means the No.2 ranked bantamweight now has a real chance to get the next shot at the title, though No.1 contender Merab Dvalishvili, who has beaten ‘Suga’ twice, will no doubt have something to say about that.

However, O’Malley’s case is strengthened by the fact that he already holds a split-decision win over current champion Yan back in 2022, meaning that a rematch between them is almost inevitable.

Whether that happens next or not remains to be seen though.