Sean O'Malley has to undergo hip surgery after losing his title at UFC 306

Sean O'Malley will have to wait a long time before competing as the former champion will have to undergo hip surgery early next month.

The 29-year-old suffered a torn labrum in his hip 10 weeks ago but overcame the injury during fight training to face Merab Dvalishvili on Saturday at UFC 306 in Las Vegas. O'Malley (18-2) lost his 135-pound title to Dvalishvili by unanimous decision. He will undergo surgery in the first week of October and said his return to the Octagon could be delayed by six months to a year.

“I'm having surgery on October 3,” O'Malley told online streamer Adin Ross. “I tore the left labrum in my hip. That's the only reason I'm out for so long. After surgery, I should only have two months to recover, then a couple more months. A year is a long time, it could be six to eight months. You never know.”

Speaking on his own podcast with head coach Tim Welsh, O'Malley admitted it could be up to a year before he actually fights again, considering surgery, recovery and then full fight training. He stressed that the injury had nothing to do with his loss to Dvalishvili, in which he was out-punched 214-49 and struggled to defend Dvalishvili's notoriously stifling running game.

“Best weight loss, felt good, no excuses,” O'Malley said. “My mom says, 'You just weren't the same, what was wrong?' Nothing. I was just done. Everyone keeps asking me, 'Something didn't seem right.' No excuses.”

Immediately following his loss, O'Malley was already being challenged by bantamweight contenders such as Cory Sandhagen and Henry Cejudo. Dvalishvili will likely face undefeated challenger Umar Nurmagomedov in his first title defense, although the UFC has not yet announced this and Dvalishvili said he would prefer a fight against former flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo.