Sean O’Malley hoping to return in 2025: ‘There’s still big fights at bantamweight’

The Suga Show will be back, but it’s unclear exactly when that will be.

Sean O’Malley last fought at UFC 316 in June, losing to Merab Dvalishvili via submission in the second round. That’s left “Suga” in a tough spot … so long as Merab holds the belt, he’ll be fighting killers at the top of the bantamweight division with no path back to the title.

In a new interview with TMZ Sports, O’Malley gave an update on what will be next. While he hopes to return to the cage sooner rather than later, he’s had no news from the UFC on when that will actually happen.

“Nothing right now,” he said of solid fight plans. “I don’t have any really too many ideas. I’m gonna go talk to UFC before [teammate Tommy McMillen] fights on [Contender Series]. So I’m gonna go talk with UFC in two weeks and hopefully get something out there.”

“I wouldn’t mind fighting one more time this year,” O’Malley added. “November, December. Mid-November, they obviously do MSG. December, they typically do Vegas. So one of those sound good. And if not, if it doesn’t work out, next year I’m ready to go.”

Despite his position in the bantamweight division, O’Malley has no plans to move up to featherweight.

“I’m good,” he said. “Bantamweight, I’m still here. There’s still big fights for me to have at bantamweight. 145, will it happen in the future? Yeah, probably. Most likely. But we still got work to do down here at 135.”

He did have some interesting words to say about the weight cut down to bantamweight which make us suspect 145 may come a little sooner down the line than later.

“It’s always hard to answer how hard weight cuts are because you feel like you’re dying every single time,” O’Malley said. “Anybody that makes weight is like, ‘It would be easier at 145.’ But we’re still getting it done at 135, in a healthy manner. So, yeah, we’re good for now.”