O'Malley admits he questioned Cormier's loyalty before UFC 333 title-shot snub

Sean O’Malley has admitted he harboured doubts about Daniel Cormier’s support over the years, telling the former two-division champion directly that he sometimes wondered whether Cormier was rooting against him. The pair addressed the tension in a candid interview on Cormier’s YouTube channel following the fallout from UFC 333.

The dispute was sparked when Petr Yan defended the UFC bantamweight title against Merab Dvalishvili in a trilogy bout at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. During the post-fight broadcast, Cormier asked Yan about a potential rematch with Song Yadong, who was present at the arena — a question that O’Malley and his coach Tim Welch publicly criticised in their respective reaction videos. O’Malley’s camp argued he deserves the next title shot, having already beaten both Yan and Song.

Cormier moved quickly to explain himself, clarifying that the production team had flagged Song’s presence and indicated he was about to appear on screen, prompting the question. “The truck in my ear’s going, ‘We’re gonna show Song,’” Cormier said. “I messaged you and you immediately go, ‘Dude, I don’t take it personally; there’s no deal. It is what it is.’”

O’Malley accepted the explanation and used the conversation to surface a longer-running uncertainty about how Cormier perceived him. “There were times when I felt like, ‘Man, does DC not really f*ck with me? Does he want to see me lose?’” O’Malley said. “There was a part of me that had that kind of feeling over the course of fights.”

He added that he has since reframed his thinking, acknowledging the demands placed on broadcast commentators across a full event. “You put it into perspective — you guys are sitting there eight, nine, 10 hours commentating. Every single fight, every single fight card. You’re bound to say something you don’t necessarily mean, or it just comes off the wrong way.”

Both men appear to have moved on without lasting ill will. O’Malley’s title-shot ambitions remain the more pressing open question, with the former bantamweight champion positioning himself as the clear frontrunner to face Yan next.