Sean O’Malley shares regret that he wasn’t in Petr Yan’s corner at UFC 273: “He fought so emotional”

Sean O’Malley has shared regret that he wasn’t in Petr Yan’s corner for his loss at UFC 273 against Aljamain Sterling.

Weeks before his bout with the UFC bantamweight champion, ‘No Mercy’ lost his corner due to VISA issues. As a result, Yan began shopping around for potential big names to help train him. Two such names that offered their services were Henry Cejudo and Sean O’Malley.

However, on fight week, both men backed out of the fight. As a result, Yan had to get other cornermen. Those coaches sadly couldn’t lead the Russian to victory, as he lost the bout via split decision to Sterling. Yan was badly out grappled in the fight, although, some such as Dana White have voiced that they thought the Russian actually should’ve won.

Now, Sean O’Malley has given his thoughts on Yan’s loss last Saturday on the TimboSugarShow podcast. ‘Sugar’ lamented not being in the interim bantamweight champion’s corner at UFC 273.

The reason is that he thinks he could’ve helped Yan from fighting so emotionally. Sean O’Malley opined that the reason the Russian lost was due to his overly aggressive style from the first round, which led to him being taken down.

(via Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)

“Yan’s takedown defense… I mean, other than the two times that he got his back taken, is so elite. His hips, hand on the head, he’s got sick takedown defense. But he fought so emotional from the beginning of the fight. Dude, [he was] so emotional. Those looping punches… He fought super emotional and I should’ve been in his corner and told him, ‘Yo Petr, settle down, bud. Let’s all take that down.’ That was my fault.” (H/T SportsKeeda)

What do you think about Sean O’Malley’s comments about Petr Yan? Do you think the Russian was fighting emotionally last Saturday night?