O'Malley says Aleksandre Topuria blanked him backstage at UFC White House

Sean O’Malley says Aleksandre Topuria gave him the cold shoulder backstage at UFC White House, claiming Ilia’s elder brother was the only member of the Georgian fighter’s team who refused to shake his hand or make eye contact with him.

O’Malley (20-3) was at the event after defeating Aiemann Zahabi via second-round knockout. On the same card, Ilia Topuria suffered his first professional loss when Justin Gaethje stopped him in a corner retirement after the fourth round to claim the lightweight title in a major upset. Aleksandre had cornered his younger brother that night.

When O’Malley encountered the Topuria camp backstage, he says the interaction was cordial with everyone except Aleksandre. “I shook all of his team’s hands, acknowledged. But his brother did not look at me, wouldn’t look at me at all. Doesn’t like me,” O’Malley said on Tim Welche’s YouTube channel.

O’Malley was careful to separate any tension with Aleksandre from his relationship with Ilia himself, suggesting the two fighters have moved past their previous exchanges. “If Ilia’s heard me talk about him, he knows I think he is one of the greatest of all time,” he said. “I made a couple of short jokes, he’s made fun of me, like, ‘Ugly tattoo.’… But his brother didn’t look at me.”

Ilia Topuria, now 17-1, had entered the White House card as the reigning featherweight-turned-lightweight champion. Gaethje’s fourth-round stoppage ended what had been a dominant run for the 27-year-old Georgian, with his corner throwing in the towel as the beating became one-sided.

Aleksandre, the elder of the two brothers, is 7-1 in his professional career and has won both of his UFC appearances by unanimous decision. Whether his apparent coolness toward O’Malley signals anything beyond a tense fight-night atmosphere remains unclear, but O’Malley was unambiguous in his reading of the situation.