Sean O'Malley's title reign was fun while it lasted.

Although he defended his UFC bantamweight title only once, O'Malley made history in a short span when he headlined the first — and potentially only — MMA event to ever take place in Las Vegas' Sphere. But UFC 306 was a wake-up call of sorts for O'Malley. Tasked with facing Merab Dvalishvili, O'Malley found himself overwhelmed by the limitless cardio and wrestling the now-champion presented. However, a torn hip labrum suffered 10 weeks out from fight night hindered O'Malley, he claims.

As difficult as it was to overcome the injury, O'Malley didn't consider withdrawing and doesn't regret not doing so.

"It's an excuse, whatever, it's unfortunate," O'Malley said of his injury on Uncrowned's The Ariel Helwani Show. "I'm going to whoop Merab's ass, and it's going to make it that much sweeter when I beat him the second time.

"I had a good camp, way better camp than the 'Aljo' [Aljamain Sterling] camp. The rib injury was a lot harder to train with than the torn labrum. The labrum is just pain. The rib is pain too, but it's a different pain. I was able to do a lot more. I was not able to wrestle as much as I would have liked. I know I can wrestle better than that. I've been training with really, really good guys for a long time, and I know I can do better. That's what was so frustrating. Merab's good, he's not great. Merab's good, and that's what's frustrating is it is what it is. I'm going to get it back and it's going to feel that much better this next time."

Scorecards for UFC 306's main event between O'Malley and Dvalishvili were almost universally in Dvalishvili's favor. Officially, Dvalishvili's unanimous decision nod earned a 49-46 and two 48-47 scorecards from the judges. Per MMA Decisions, 22 media members were all in agreement that "The Machine" deserved the win, while 82.2 percent of the database's fan votes, as of publishing, also did.

O'Malley, 29, was relatively humble in defeat on fight night, especially compared to his previous loss, a first-round TKO against Marlon "Chito" Vera in August 2020. That tune changed as soon as time was given for the former champion to reexamine his performance.

Having had time to remove knee-jerk emotions from his assessment, O'Malley sticks by his sentiments that he delivered more damage in pivotal rounds.

"This far removed, I feel like I'm somewhat over it," O'Malley said. "It still bothers me a little bit. The first two weeks after, it drove me crazy. Especially because the narrative was I just got my ass whooped, and I went and I didn't even want to rewatch the fight because everyone was saying, 'Oh, you got f***ing smoked. You looked like s***.' I was like, 'God, I don't even want to watch the fight.'

"I still need to rewatch it a few times, but I rewatched the fight and now I will say my unbiased, humble opinion — I mean, the judges gave me round three and five. That means he won two and four, which I'm not arguing. He for sure won round two and four. I don't understand how you give me round three but not round one. I thought round one was more of my round than round three, even. I thought I won round one, three and five, let alone didn't get my ass kicked. Round two and four, he definitely won.

"I stuffed nine out of 15 takedowns, 60 percent of the takedowns," he continued. "I stuffed more than Henry Cejudo, [gold] medalist in the Olympics. So, I'm still a better wrestler than Henry. I stuff two more takedowns in that fight, I win that fight. I had him running around, holding his guts in, in the fifth round. [He's supposed to be] the cardio machine — I won the third and the fifth round. Two out of the last three rounds, I won."

Ultimately, there are plenty of logical rebound matchup options for O'Malley, but he wants the big one: A Dvalishvili title rematch.

Wild-card options like Cejudo also remain out there. Even someone like the all-time great José Aldo is of interest to the now-former UFC bantamweight champ.

O'Malley said a March or April return date would be ideal, and by that point, he'd like to believe the next top contender — Umar Nurmagomedov — will have gotten into the Octagon with Dvalishvili.

If not, that only bolsters the likelihood of his wish of a rematch coming true.

"I talked a lot of going into that fight, so I'm not surprised that I'm going to have a lot of hate on the internet. That's just how it works," O'Malley said. "So, I'd say this far removed it still bugs me a little bit because I know I'm better than that. I know I'm better than him, and that's what bugs me, but that's also what's going to drive me to beat him next.

"According to his Instagram, he is down anytime, anywhere. I think he would prefer me [over Nurmagomedov]. I think he's actually terrified of Umar, if I'm being honest. Not trying to troll, not trying to be goofy. I think Merab's scared of Umar and would rather fight me. He would probably look at me as an easier fight. So yeah, I think he would pick that if he could."