Morning Report: Sean O’Malley confused by ‘weird’ Dana White announcement, thinks Topuria vs. Pimblett was original plan

Sean O’Malley was as confused as many fans when UFC 324’s title fights were announced.

At halftime of the Thanksgiving NFL game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Dallas Cowboys, UFC CEO Dana White announced the promotion’s 2026 kickoff plans, with Justin Gaethje fighting Paddy Pimblett for an interim lightweight title in the UFC 324 main event on Jan. 24 in Las Vegas, with women’s bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison defending her title against the returning Amanda Nunes in the co-main event.

White’s halftime segment was brief and he went on to hype up several other newly official bouts on Instagram Live, but overall the reception to the news didn’t exactly shake up the MMA community. On his YouTube channel, O’Malley criticized the quality of the announcement and theorized it was because the matchmakers actually wanted to pair Pimblett with lightweight champion Ilia Topuria.

“I was so disappointed in the announcement. … The No. 1 fight promoter in the world absolutely brings the energy when he goes on live on Insta or YouTube, he brings the energy,” O’Malley said. “This one felt weird. My theory is it was supposed to be Paddy vs. Ilia, that’s what was supposed to happen and they were really trying to get that fight to happen and they couldn’t do it.

“I think it was supposed to be Paddy vs. Ilia and that didn’t go through and Dana was not happy about it.”

Topuria is unavailable for the foreseeable future as he recently announced he is taking time off to deal with personal matters and doesn’t expect to return until April at the earliest.

O’Malley also addressed the controversy concerning Harrison vs. Nunes playing second fiddle to an interim title fight. Nunes is widely regarded as one of the greatest female fighters of all time and she returns to competition for the first time since 2023, and Harrison is a two-time Olympic gold medalist in judo who has compiled a 19-1 record in MMA.

Despite those accolades, O’Malley thinks the current lineup is what’s best for the fans.

“This is a g*ddamn business,” O’Malley said. “They are not going to put Amanda Nunes vs. Kayla Harrison—it’s a big fight, women’s history, yes, I get it—we want to fight Paddy vs. Gaethje at the end of the card. … [Harrison and Nunes] are co-main, I like that. I should be opening up the pay-per-view. I should be ending the prelims, but I think the card is where it is and I think that’s OK. Justin vs. Paddy, that’s an interesting fight.”

“Paddy vs. Gaethje is a bigger fight than Arman vs. either of those two,” O’Malley added.

As for his own fight against Song Yadong, O’Malley is currently expected to have a place on the UFC 324 main card, though he understands his bout might have less priority given his back-to-back losses to men’s bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili.

“I’m not even the co-main, I am falling off hard,” O’Malley said. “What’s next? Prelims? Early prelims? G*ddamn it, it’s not going good for the Suga Show. I’m about to be fighting at ICF [Intense Championship Fighting] in Great Falls, the stock of the Suga Show is down bad right now. It’s not good. It’s not looking good, but you’re only as good as your last fight, so I go out there, win, we’re back.”

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