8/26/26
How much power is there in waiting for a championship opportunity in the UFC? Fighters like Sean O’Malley and Charles Oliveira have recently said that they will wait and not fight until they get their shot once again at the belt. For O’Malley, after losing the belt to Merab Dvalishvili and then losing the rematch, he has had multiple fights against other contenders. He has won all of them, with his most recent coming at the White House during UFC Freedom 250. He proved that he is above the rest of the weight class, and he also has a win over the current champion Petr Yan, which is what O’Malley is holding on to.
Because it seems like no one else in the division can beat Sean at the moment, and he has history with the champ, O’Malley is waiting for the fallout of the Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili rematch. He believes that if Yan wins, he is guaranteed the rematch and the opportunity to get the belt back. He does not want to fight anyone else in the meantime, no matter how long it takes. O’Malley is one of the biggest stars in the sport, and his record speaks for itself, so he does hold power in this situation. Now it is a question of whether the matchmakers will grant him his wish and how long it will take if they do. Merab and Yan will face each other in October at UFC 333, and O’Malley is banking on a Yan win because if not, he might not get the championship fight against Merab. Dvalishvili has beat him twice back to back and it wasn’t particularly close either time, with the last one being by submission. There is not much of a story for another O’Malley vs Merab fight but there is one with Yan. Sean just has to play the waiting game.
Then there is Charles Oliveira, who is hoping he is next in line for the belt against current lightweight champion Justin Gaethje. Oliveira beat Gaethje when he was champion, although his belt was stripped before the fight due to him missing weight. It was a wild and chaotic first round but Oliveira knocked Gaethje down, jumped on his back, and got the submission win. Oliveira has been at the top of the division for years. He is a former champ with a title defense and has the most finishes and submissions in UFC history. However, he has lost his last two title fights against Islam Makhachev back in 2021 and Ilia Topuria in 2025.
Since then, he has won two fights, with his last being for the BMF belt against Max Holloway in dominant fashion. He thinks he has done enough to warrant one last shot at the title, and because he already beat the champion and believes he is the logical next fight for Gaethje. It also helps his case that Gaethje wants to avenge that loss and chose Oliveira as one of the fighters he wants to fight next. This puts Oliveira in a good position given the history and the fact that Gaethje is singling him out.
Has he done enough, though, in the eyes of the matchmakers? Oliveira recently came out and said he is waiting no matter what; there won’t be a fight in the meantime, and there is no telling how long he could be sidelined. Gaethje isn’t going to fight for the rest of the year, and there is no timetable for his return. The worst-case scenario for Oliveira is that someone else gets the opportunity before him, and if he really won’t fight until it’s for the belt, who knows how long he could be waiting. He is 38 years old and doesn’t have many fights or time left to just be waiting around hoping that he gets what he wants. Oliveira has a lot of advantages at play, and he could be next for the belt, but fans will have to wait and see.
It does beg one question, though: can fighters afford to wait endlessly for an opportunity, or are they making a mistake and shortening their careers?
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