Daniel Cormier: 'The road back will be difficult' for Sean O'Malley after UFC 306 title loss

Daniel Cormier thinks Sean O'Malley may struggle to regain his status as UFC champion.

O’Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) was taken down six times and controlled for 10 minutes en route to a unanimous decision loss to Merab Dvalishvili (18-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 306 title-fight headliner at Sphere in Las Vegas.

Cormier sees the likes of Dvalishvili being a bad matchup for O’Malley unless he makes serious strides in his grappling.

“The road back will be difficult, you know,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “It’s hard to get yourself back to that level once you’ve been there and you recognize the stardom that comes with becoming the champion. He never gave up on himself. He should be proud about that.

“But he was in there with a guy that really will be a matchup problem for him every time that they fight. He’s just got to get better with the wrestling, better at the defending takedowns and he’s got to just really react a little earlier. I think his reactions were a little slow. That’s why Merab was able to knock him off of his feet.”

O’Malley’s best moment came in Round 5, when he poked Dvalishvili in the ribs with a teep kick that had him backpedalling. It was too little too late for O’Malley, but Cormier commends him for fighting until the end.

“If you’re a Sean O’Malley fan, you should be proud that your guy didn’t give up on himself, and he really did give himself a chance in Round 5,” Cormier said. “If you’re the coaches, you’re proud of your athlete because you told him in Round 5 that he needed to go and try to get a finish, and that’s exactly what he tried to do.”