SEAN O’MALLEY has likely punched his ticket to a third crack at the UFC’s bantamweight title.
‘Suga’ returned to action on the promotion’s historic White House card early this morning.
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Sean O’Malley returned to the octagon on the stacked UFC White House event Credit: AP
He locked horns with Aiemann Zahabi on the stacked Freedom 250 card Credit: AP
Standing between the fan favourite and a second straight win following his pair of losses to Merab Dvalishvili was surging Canadian contender Aiemann Zahabi.
A title shot against current champion Petr Yan was, in the eyes of many MMA fans, the likely spoils for the victor.
And O’Malley moved a giant step closer towards a rematch with Yan with a throwback second-round KO of Zahabi.
Chants of “USA, USA, USA” rang out before O’Malley took the centre of the cage and started stalking Zahabi.
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Zahabi was happy to operate on the back foot and avoid the big and telegraphed shots from fan favourite O’Malley.
He offered very little output other than a series of hard inside low kicks, which O’Malley cancelled out with a late flurry in the dying embers of the stanza.
O’Malley’s confidence grew in the second, although he was still getting his leg chewed up by inside low kicks.
His movement, however, wasn’t limited as he looked to counter the Canadian.
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Sean O’Malley scored a huge second-round KO win over Aiemann Zahabi Credit: Getty
Zahabi looked to be on wobbly legs after getting stung by a big straight right.
But he was well and truly put on skates by a beautiful left hand, which paved the way from a brutal right hand that sent him crashing to the canvas.
O’Malley knew no more strikes were needed and saluted the troops before walking away from the fallen Zahabi.
More to follow… For the latest news on this story keep checking back at The Jattvibe Online
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