'Worst robbery in UFC history': MMA world reacts to Sean O'Malley-Petr Yan decision at UFC 280

Tom Naghten

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'Worst robbery in UFC history': MMA world reacts to Sean O'Malley-Petr Yan decision at UFC 280 image

A host of UFC fighters and countless fans have voiced their discontent with the judges at UFC 280 after Sean O'Malley was awarded a split-decision victory over Petr Yan.

The eccentric bantamweight star took out the three-round contest 29-28 x2, 28-29 after an entertaining back-and-forth bout with the former champion.

Judges Ben Cartlidge and David Lethaby had it for the American, while Vito Paolillo scored it for Yan, with the first round proving to the be the tie-breaker after all three judges agreed Yan won round two and O'Malley won round three.

Yan dominated much of the stat sheet, including scoring six takedowns and nearly six minutes of control time.

The Russian was cut badly above the eye thanks to a knee early in the third round but it didn't appear to hamper him too much as he fought back strongly to the final bell.

Before the scores were read out, O'Malley was considered a +800 ($9) underdog to take the decision.

Plenty of fighters took to Twitter in shock following the official decision.

It continues a tough run for Yan who is now 1-3 in his last four since he became the first champion to lose their title via disqualification following an illegal knee on Aljamain Sterling.

For O'Malley, who was ranked 11th coming into the bout, it cements his place among the bantamweight elite and likely earns him a title shot against Sterling, who defended his belt against an injured TJ Dillashaw in the co-main event.

"Petr Yan was the number one guy, arguably could have been considered the champ, depending who you ask and I think I went out there and proved that I belong at the top of the division," O'Malley told ESPN after the bout.

"I didn't know how it (the scorecards) was going to go. It's so hard, you get cracked, you get rocked, you fight for 15 minutes.

"I was just kind of enjoying that moment and whatever happened, happened."

UFC boss Dana White felt there was an argument for both fighters winning.

"It was one of those razor-thin close fights," White told reporters.

"I could see people saying Yan won the fight, I could see people saying O'Malley won the fight."

In the headliner, Islam Makhachev earned the lightweight title with a second-round submission victory over Charles Oliveira.

After the bout, Makhachev and his trainer Khabib Nurmagomedov confirmed they'd like to take on featherweight champion Alex Volkanovski at UFC 284 in Perth.

Tom Naghten

Tom Naghten Photo

Tom Naghten is a senior editor at The Sporting News Australia where he's been part of the team since 2017. He predominantly covers boxing and MMA. In his spare time, he likes to watch Robbie Ahmat's goal against the Kangaroos at the SCG in 2000.