Overview
- Sean O’Malley knocked out Aiemann Zahabi on Sunday at the UFC Freedom 250 card on the White House lawn and immediately called for a fight with champion Petr Yan.
- Dana White announced Fight of the Night and two Performance bonuses for the main and co-main winners, leaving O’Malley with only the standard $25,000 finish payout while larger White House bonuses went to other fighters.
- O’Malley publicly said he expected a bigger payday and later called the decision 'ridiculous' on his YouTube channel, saying the small bonus would cover taxes and travel.
- Petr Yan replied on social media that the UFC had been 'afraid' to match him with O’Malley for the event and said he had given consent to fight, while O’Malley maintains the promotion told him Yan was 'not available.'
- The exchange revives long‑running debate over whether the UFC favors high‑profile fighters and leaves O’Malley’s short‑term path to a bantamweight title shot unclear given confirmed plans for a Yan–Merab Dvalishvili trilogy later in 2026.