Morning Report | Sean O’Malley wowed by Ilia Topuria’s epic UFC 317 knockout: ‘Thank God he didn’t accept my callout’

Sean O’Malley has changed his mind about wanting to fight Ilia Topuria.

Following Topuria’s incredible first-round knockout of Charles Oliveira in the main event of UFC 317, O’Malley was in absolute awe of the newly crowned lightweight champion. O’Malley was so astounded, he retroactively walked back a past challenge he made to Topuria when both held titles in different divisions.

“Holy f*ck,” O’Malley said in a live reaction to Topuria’s win on his YouTube channel. “Islam [Makhachev] vs. Topuria needs to happen. He’s up there with Jon Jones. Knocked out [Alexander Volkanovski], knocked out Max [Holloway], knocked out Charles. Islam next at 170? Holy f*ck. Who would even fight Ilia at 155 next? Holy f*ck, man.

“Thank God he didn’t accept my callout. … After I beat ‘Chito’ [Marlon Vera], I called out Ilia and he got scared and ran to 155. No, I’m just kidding, thank God the UFC didn’t make that fight.”

O’Malley’s verbal feud with Topuria peaked after UFC 299 in March 2024, when O’Malley successfully defended the bantamweight title with a lopsided decision win over Marlon Vera. At the time, Topuria was barely a month removed from becoming featherweight champion and O’Malley was interested in making a superfight happen.

“I don’t know there’s just certain people that you kind of just want to fight. Ilia’s that guy,” O’Malley said on The MMA Hour. “He’s also done a really good job. He’s a star. He’s not a superstar but he’s close and it takes two names to make massive fights.

“I’ve been very vocal since I’ve been in the UFC, my goal is to get the massive fights. That’s what I want and that’s the reason behind that callout.”

The grudge match never materialized and O’Malley later lost the belt to Topuria’s fellow Georgian Merab Dvalishvilli.

O’Malley then lost a rematch to Dvalishvili, making his future unclear in the 135-pound division as long as “The Machine” is on top. One thing O’Malley knows for sure is that if Topuria vs. Islam Makhachev doesn’t materialize—Makhachev vacated the lightweight title to set up a welterweight title bout with champion Jack Della Maddalena that is still to be made official—he already has a perfect challenger in Paddy Pimblett.

“Ilia vs. Paddy is the fight to make,” O’Malley said. “That’s the fight to make as simple as that. Ilia vs. Paddy, 100 percent, that’s the next fight if it’s not going to be Ilia vs. Islam.”

“This is going to be a f*cking fantastic press conference, fantastic buildup, and a pretty f*cking epic fight. Holy shit, that’s the fight to make. … I’m f*cking excited, let’s make it happen. I’m going to call [UFC CEO] Dana [White], see what we can do.”

Legend. Ilia Topuria is the new lightweight champion, one of the few two-division champions in UFC history, and he accomplished this feat with one of the nastiest title fight knockouts ever.

Next. Paddy Pimblett has to be Topuria’s next challenger, right?

Also. Jake Paul beat Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in his latest foray into boxing.

Love. Joshua Van and Brandon Royval stole the show at UFC 317.

Nope. Dana White shoots down Jon Jones’ explanation of how the last few months of his career went down.

Redemption. Christopher Ewert is getting his shot at Dana White Contender Series after UFC 317 weigh-in debacle.

UFC 317 post-fight show.

Re-live a wild Saturday night Watch Party.

UFC 317 post-fight scrums.

Paul vs. Chavez Jr. post-fight scrums.

On To the Next One. MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee look ahead to Ilia Topuria and Alexandre Pantoja’s upcoming title challenges (don’t mess this up, UFC), and make matchup picks for the rest of the big winners at UFC 317.

I want NOW.

That said, just how good is Charles Johnson?

Neat!

Respect.

No need, legend.

Hell of a stat.

Dollars and cents.

Hey, stop making sense.

It wasn’t the best possible UFC 317 card we could have had on paper, but damn if the event didn’t deliver in the end.

Ilia Topuria’s coronation was pure cinema, Alexandre Pantoja showed why he is one of MMA’s greatest champions, Joshua Van and Brandon Royval gave us a Fight of the Year front runner, and we had a couple of fantastic finishes that didn’t even earn Performance of the Night bonuses.

Even better, the matchmakers have been handed two blockbuster matchups on a silver platter in Topuria vs. Pimblett, and Pantoja vs. Van. Let’s get the ink dry on those contracts ASAP.

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