Controversy

O'Malley vs. Yan Scorecard: Did Petr Yan Really Beat Sean O'Malley?

The judges agreed on two of the three rounds. The fight - and a bantamweight title shot - came down to the first one, which nearly every media scorer gave to Yan.

By Jashan Oct 13, 2026 · 7 min read

At a glance

1ResultO'Malley by split decision - 29-28, 28-29, 29-28
2The judgesBen Cartlidge and David Lethaby for O'Malley, Vito Paolillo for Yan; referee Jason Herzog
3The splitAll three judges gave Yan round 2 and O'Malley round 3; only round 1 divided them
4The statsSignificant strikes 84-58 to O'Malley; total strikes 97-91, takedowns 6-0 and control 5:44 to 0:02 for Yan
5The mediaNearly every media score on MMADecisions went to Yan; Sherdog named it its 2022 Robbery of the Year
6Our card29-28 Yan

What was at stake

In October 2022 Petr Yan was the No. 1 contender at bantamweight. He was 16-3 and a former champion, and his last fight had been a split-decision loss to Aljamain Sterling at UFC 273 that April. Sean O'Malley was ranked No. 13. He was 15-1 with one no contest - his previous fight, against Pedro Munhoz, had ended in one.

Dana White was sceptical of the matchup at first, as Cageside Press and Heavy both reported, and said before the fight that the winner could be next in line for the title. The sportsbooks made Yan a clear favourite: he opened as high as -400 to -500 and closed at around -265 to -275, with O'Malley at roughly +230.

The official scorecards

Each judge's card, round by round, as reported by VerdictMMA; theScore and Sportskeeda agree on the rounds, and Sherdog and MMADecisions agree on the judges and the totals. Scores are written O'Malley first.

Judge	R1	R2	R3	Total
Ben Cartlidge	10-9	9-10	10-9	29-28
David Lethaby	10-9	9-10	10-9	29-28
Vito Paolillo	9-10	9-10	10-9	28-29

Referee: Jason Herzog. Every round was scored 10-9.

This split decision is easy to read. All three judges gave Yan round 2 and all three gave O'Malley round 3. That left the fight to round 1. Cartlidge and Lethaby gave it to O'Malley; Paolillo gave it to Yan. Paolillo's first-round score is the one figure in the table that no source prints on its own: it follows from his 29-28 total for Yan and the rounds every judge agreed on. Had one more judge seen round 1 his way, Yan would have won and the title shot would have been his.

Round by round

Round 1 - O'Malley 2-1 (Cartlidge and Lethaby)

The closest round of the fight. O'Malley threw more and landed more to the head, 13 head strikes to Yan's five. Yan answered with left hooks and an overhand left, and he landed all 11 of the leg kicks he threw. Late in the round Yan lifted O'Malley and slammed him down against the fence, a moment CBS Sports and Cageside Press both singled out. Significant strikes: O'Malley 23, Yan 19; total strikes 28-23 to Yan, who also had 1:10 of control to O'Malley's two seconds. CBS Sports called the round too close to call.

Round 2 - Yan (all three judges)

O'Malley started it well: Bloody Elbow, Low Kick MMA and theScore all describe a left hand that hurt Yan early. Yan then took over. He completed all three of his takedowns, held O'Malley down for 2:42, and worked knees in the clinch and strikes on the ground. One report, on Yahoo Sports, says Yan dropped O'Malley in the round; the official statistics record no knockdown for either man in the fight. Significant strikes: Yan 24, O'Malley 21; total strikes 45-22 to Yan. Every judge gave him the round.

Round 3 - O'Malley (all three judges)

O'Malley's best round by a distance. He landed 40 significant strikes to Yan's 15, the widest margin of the fight, and a knee opened a bad cut near Yan's right eye. Outlets disagree about the knee - CBS Sports and Low Kick MMA call it a flying or jumping knee, others simply a knee - but not about the damage. Yan kept wrestling: he completed two of seven takedown attempts, the last in the final seconds, and had 1:52 of control. All three judges gave O'Malley the round.

What the numbers say

The official statistics, round by round (O'Malley first):

Round	Sig. strikes	Total strikes	Takedowns	Control	Knockdowns
R1	23 – 19	23 – 28	0/1 – 1/3	0:02 – 1:10	0 – 0
R2	21 – 24	22 – 45	0/0 – 3/3	0:00 – 2:42	0 – 0
R3	40 – 15	46 – 24	0/0 – 2/7	0:00 – 1:52	0 – 0
Total	84 – 58	91 – 97	0/1 – 6/13	0:02 – 5:44	0 – 0

O'Malley's case starts with the headline number: 84 significant strikes to 58. But almost all of that gap comes from round 3, which nobody disputes. Take round 3 away and the first two rounds are level - 44 significant strikes for O'Malley, 43 for Yan. Over the whole fight Yan landed more total strikes, 97 to 91, at a higher rate (60% of his significant strikes against O'Malley's 52%), landed every one of his 21 leg kicks, completed six takedowns to none, and spent 5:44 of the 15 minutes in control. Nobody was knocked down.

Round 1 is where the stat sheet stops deciding anything. O'Malley's 23-19 edge in significant strikes and his 13-5 edge to the head are real. So are Yan's 11 leg kicks, his 28-23 lead in total strikes, the slam and the 1:10 of control. On paper it is a coin toss; the argument is about which kind of work matters more.

The media mostly did not see a coin toss. MMADecisions lists 26 media scores and only one for O'Malley, MMA Junkie's Matthew Wells at 29-28. Sportskeeda reported a second MMA Junkie writer on O'Malley's side, so the true count may be 24 of 26 for Yan; either way the media went overwhelmingly the other way from the judges. ESPN, CBS Sports and Sherdog all scored it 29-28 for Yan, and Sherdog's three round scorers gave Yan eight of their nine rounds. Sherdog later named the fight its 2022 Robbery of the Year.

How we scored it

Round	MMA.SOCIAL	Why
R1	10-9 Yan	The harder single shots, all 11 leg kicks, more total strikes (28-23), the lifting slam and 1:10 of control outweighed O'Malley's 23-19 edge in significant strikes, much of it at range.
R2	10-9 Yan	Three takedowns from three attempts, 2:42 of control and 45-22 in total strikes, after O'Malley's good start.
R3	10-9 O'Malley	40-15 in significant strikes and the knee that cut Yan; Yan's two takedowns and 1:52 of control kept it from a 10-8.
Total	29-28 Yan

Round 1 is the only real argument, and it is closer than the media's near-unanimity suggests. O'Malley out-landed Yan to the head, and two experienced judges thought that mattered most. But the round's clearest moment was Yan's slam, his leg kicks were landing every time, and he finished the round in control. Give O'Malley round 1 and you are scoring volume at range over the takedown, the kicks and the position.

That is not the same as calling it a wide robbery. The judges agreed with almost everyone on rounds 2 and 3, and round 3 was O'Malley's by a distance. They disagreed with the room on one close round. But a title shot went one way on that round, and on our card it was Yan's.

What happened next

Yan's reaction on social media that night was a two-word expletive aimed at the judges, as Sherdog and Bloody Elbow both reported. O'Malley was unmoved. Three days later he posted: "Just rewatched the fight, def won." He also said that becoming champion was "inevitable." Both fighters received the Fight of the Night bonus.

O'Malley was right about the title. At UFC 292 on August 19, 2023, he stopped Aljamain Sterling by TKO 51 seconds into the second round to become bantamweight champion, then defended the belt at UFC 299 on March 9, 2024, beating Marlon Vera 50-45, 50-45, 50-44. He lost it to Merab Dvalishvili by unanimous decision at UFC 306 on September 14, 2024, and lost the rematch at UFC 316 on June 7, 2025, submitted by a north-south choke in the third round. He has since won twice: a unanimous decision over Song Yadong at UFC 324 on January 24, 2026, and a second-round stoppage of Aiemann Zahabi in June 2026.

Yan's path was slower. He lost to Dvalishvili by unanimous decision in March 2023, then rebuilt with four straight decision wins: Song Yadong at UFC 299, Deiveson Figueiredo in November 2024, Marcus McGhee in July 2025, and finally Dvalishvili himself at UFC 323 on December 6, 2025, 49-46, 49-46, 48-47, to win the title back. After back surgery in January 2026, he is scheduled to defend it against Dvalishvili in a third fight at UFC 333 on October 24, 2026.

The rematch with O'Malley has never happened and has not been booked. O'Malley has said he wants Yan next if Yan gets past Dvalishvili.

The verdict

O'Malley vs. Yan was one close round scored the way most observers did not score it, with a title shot riding on it. The judges agreed on rounds 2 and 3, and so does almost everyone. Round 1 was Yan's on the slam, the leg kicks and control; two judges gave it to O'Malley for his work at range, and he went on to win the title. On our card Yan won 29-28, as he did on nearly every media score MMADecisions recorded.

Full fight stats: O'Malley vs. Yan. The rest of the night: UFC 280. More disputed cards: the fighters with the most disputed losses, most split-decision wins and most split decisions.

Sources

Questions

Who won O'Malley vs. Yan?

Sean O'Malley, by split decision at UFC 280 on October 22, 2022. Ben Cartlidge and David Lethaby scored it 29-28 for O'Malley and Vito Paolillo scored it 29-28 for Yan. Nearly every media score on MMADecisions had Yan winning, and so does ours, 29-28.

What was the O'Malley vs. Yan scorecard?

All three judges gave Yan round 2 and O'Malley round 3. Round 1 decided it: Cartlidge and Lethaby gave it to O'Malley and Paolillo gave it to Yan, for totals of 29-28, 28-29 and 29-28.

Was O'Malley vs. Yan a robbery?

It is widely called one. MMADecisions lists only one of 26 media scores for O'Malley, and Sherdog named it its 2022 Robbery of the Year. The fight turned on a single close round, the first, in which Yan slammed O'Malley and landed every leg kick he threw.

Who landed more strikes in O'Malley vs. Yan?

O'Malley landed more significant strikes, 84 to 58, almost all of the difference in round 3. Yan landed more total strikes, 97 to 91, completed six takedowns to none and had 5:44 of control time to O'Malley's two seconds.

Did O'Malley knock Yan down at UFC 280?

No. The official statistics record no knockdowns for either fighter. O'Malley hurt Yan early in round 2 and cut him with a knee in round 3, and one report says Yan dropped O'Malley in round 2, but no knockdown was scored.

Did O'Malley and Yan have a rematch?

Not as of October 2026. O'Malley went on to win the bantamweight title in 2023, Yan won it in December 2025, and O'Malley has said he wants Yan next if Yan beats Merab Dvalishvili in their scheduled third fight.