Sean O’Malley thought he was just having some fun when he decided to wear a COVID-style face mask during his first staredown with Song Yadong ahead of UFC 324, but that’s not the way the move was perceived.
Reactions varied but Song called the move “totally racist” with O’Malley taking a pretty obvious jab at his opponent hailing from China. On Wednesday during UFC 324 media day, O’Malley addressed his decision to wear a mask during that faceoff and issued an apology for his actions.
“My intentions
were never harmful,” O’Malley said. “It’s supposed to be a little silly joke. It was that and it got taken out of [context]. I apologize if I offended anybody.”
Prior to O’Malley’s arrival at media day, Song admitted the move was low, but he took it as his opponent trying to rattle him before they actually meet in the octagon. At this point, Song is seemingly putting it all behind him but he never understood why O’Malley decided to go that route in the first place.
“I’m OK but I think don’t bring racism in this sport,” Song said. “Just keep it a sport. He already regretted it. He got an interview from China, he said he was sorry to fans. He’s trying to get inside of my head like a mind game. But I don’t care, I just focus on the fight. I don’t care. I just want to win the fight. Focused.”
Saturday serves as an incredibly important moment during O’Malley’s career after he appeared strapped to a rocket ship for superstardom in the UFC after becoming bantamweight champion. That success was short lived, however, with O’Malley defending the belt once and then dropping back-to-back fights against Merab Dvalishvili.
The second loss saw O’Malley finished by a submission, which effectively dropped him out of title contention with two losses to Dvalishvil.
Now he’s got new life with Petr Yan putting on a masterclass to beat Dvalishvili this past December to become a two-time champion at 135 pounds. Of course, O’Malley was paying very close attention because while he has two losses to Dvalishvili on his resume, he also holds a win over the new champ in Yan.
That’s why O’Malley truly believes a win at UFC 324 puts him right back into position to go for gold again.
“It’s got to be me versus Petr next,” O’Malley said. “If I go out there and take care of business. If not, I don’t know. I just feel like I’m trying to manifest that. I think I go out there and put on a beautiful performance, me versus Petr at the White House is huge.”
