Daniel Cormier passes the blame when telling Sean O’Malley why he snubbed him at UFC 333

Daniel Cormier told Sean O’Malley to his face exactly why he didn’t bring his name up during Petr Yan’s UFC 333 post-fight interview.

This past Saturday, the premier MMA promotion returned to Abu Dhabi for UFC 333 and in the co-main event, Petr Yan beat Merab Dvalishvili via unanimous decision to finally settle their trilogy.

Following the fight, UFC commentator Daniel Cormier stepped into the cage to speak to ‘No Mercy’, talking to him about what could potentially come next.

Instead of mentioning Sean O’Malley‘s name, though, the former UFC double champion asked the Russian champion what he thinks about a rematch against Song Yadong, who was in attendance.

Cormier says UFC production told him to mention Song Yadong

Following the event, O’Malley questioned why Yan didn’t mention him, despite their potential rematch being the obvious fight to make in the bantamweight division. Not only that, but ‘Suga’ questioned why Cormier brought up Yadong’s name, considering O’Malley beat him earlier this year.

That led to O’Malley’s coach claiming Cormier has something against him, stating that it isn’t the first time the UFC commentator has denied ‘Suga’. Despite that, Cormier invited the former bantamweight champion onto his YouTube channel this past Tuesday to talk about the situation.

“The other day, Petr Yan defends his title, and Song Yadong’s in the arena and I said, ‘Well Song Yadong is right there’, because if I’m being completely honest with you, the (UFC production) is in my ear going, ‘We’re gonna show Song (on the big screen)’, right, so then I’m obviously gonna say, ‘Well Song Yadong is right there’, and your coach took a little bit of offense to it,” Cormier said to O’Malley during their interview.

“I’m gonna talk to him tomorrow on his podcast, and I messaged you and you and me go, ‘I don’t take it personally, there’s no deal’. And I think by not having any personal feelings about us working, I believe we get blessed,” Cormier continued.

Although fans are adamant that O’Malley is the only valuable option, Dana White says Yan has two options for his next fight, unwilling to dismiss Yadong as an option. ‘No Mercy’ Yan beat Yadong back in 2024, though, and since then, the Chinese star has gone 3-1 in the cage. ‘Suga’s’ win over Yan back in 2022 still comes into conversation when controversial decisions are being discussed, though, making it a far more desirable fight.