SEAN O’MALLEY is back in the title mix after bludgeoning Song Yadong.
The former bantamweight king returned to action in the co-main event of early this morning.
Sean O’Malley looked to get back to winning ways against Song Yadong at UFC 324Credit: GETTY
The former champion had lost his last two in a rowCredit: GETTY
The pressure was on O’Malley to deliver one of the show-stopping finishes he regularly produced in the early portion of his career following the change of champion last month.
And he got back to winning ways courtesy of a unanimous decision victory.
Song opened the fight with a series of hard low kicks as O’Malley looked to gauge his distance.
snapped back the head of Song with a beautiful left hand from the southpaw stance before landing a hard spinning back kick to the stomach of the Chinese clubber.
The former champion’s jab was on point in the stanza, although he was biting on several of Song’s feints.
Closing the distance to land punches proved to be troublesome for Song, who opted to continue attacking the legs of the stance-switching O’Malley.
Song switched things up with less than a minute of the round remaining, securing a takedown and grounding the fight until the horn.
Song sent O’Malley into the southpaw stance immediately after the restart with a nasty low kick.
Sean O’Malley found himself taken down in the first and second roundsCredit: Getty
O’Malley bloodied Song Yadong late in the fightCredit: PARAMOUNT / UFC
O’Malley briefly found himself grounded a few moments later after being rushed to the cage, but he managed to wall walk back to his feet.
Song eventually ground the fight, but ‘Suga’ quickly returned to his feet, although he ate a good left hook on the break.
O’Malley’s lead leg continued to take a beating in the third, which limited his movement.
But he landed two good left hands with a minute of the round gone, much to the delight of his corner.
O’Malley sensed victory was within his grasp and was happy to operate on the outside and pop out his jab, a feinted one of which set up a nice right hand.
A beautiful right knee landed flush on the face of the bloodied Song in the final minute and drew a huge reaction from the crowd.
And O’Malley punctuated the round with a big right hand just moments before the final horn.
All three judges scored the contest the same, turning in 29-28 scorecards.
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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