{"id":37322,"date":"2026-03-21T15:29:53","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T15:29:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Chase-Hooper-Sean-OMalley-getting-layup-at-UFC-White-House-200541"},"modified":"2026-03-21T15:29:53","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T15:29:53","slug":"chase-hooper-sean-omalley-getting-layup-at-ufc-white-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/chase-hooper-sean-omalley-getting-layup-at-ufc-white-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Chase Hooper: Sean O\u2019Malley getting ‘layup’ at UFC White House"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Chase
\nHooper<\/a> believes the
\nUFC<\/a> is trying to set Sean O\u2019Malley up for a win. <\/p>\n

There were originally talks of a potential matchup between O\u2019Malley
\nand Cory
\nSandhagen<\/a>, who Hooper recently trained with. However, O\u2019Malley
\nis now booked to fight Aiemann
\nZahabi<\/a> at
\nUFC White House<\/a> on June 14. <\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Hooper believes the UFC has given O\u2019Malley a \u201clayup\u201d with the
\nZahabi matchup. Hooper notes that the Canadian is shorter than
\nO\u2019Malley and a striker, stylistically perfect for \u201cSuga.\u201d While
\nZahabi has some wrestling, Hooper believes it\u2019s not on the same
\nlevel as elite wrestlers like Merab
\nDvalishvili<\/a>, who beat O\u2019Malley twice. Hooper would have rather
\npreferred a matchup between O\u2019Malley and Sandhagen.<\/p>\n

A Favorable Style<\/h2>\n

\u201cI think they are trying to give Sean as much of a layup as they
\ncan give him,\u201d Hooper told Home of Fight<\/a>. \u201cShorter guy that will strike a
\nlittle bit. [Zahabi] wrestles a little bit, but not the same level
\nas Merab, who [O\u2019Malley] just lost to twice. They\u2019re trying to get
\nO\u2019Malley a win. But I would have loved to see him and Cory go at
\nit.\u201d <\/p>\n

O\u2019Malley (19-3) won the bantamweight title against Aljamain
\nSterling<\/a> in 2023 and defended it against Marlon Vera<\/a>
\nbefore falling against Dvalishvili in 2024. O\u2019Malley failed to
\nreclaim his title in a rematch against Dvalishvili last year.
\nO\u2019Malley has since rebounded with a win over Yadong Song<\/a>
\nat UFC 324<\/a>
\nthis past January. Meanwhile, Zahabi (14-2) is on a seven-fight
\nwinning streak, with wins over the likes of Pedro
\nMunhoz<\/a>, Jose Aldo<\/a> and
\nVera. <\/p>\n