Sean O’Malley celebrates huge UFC White House KO win with Donald Trump after bloodying Zahabi to likely earn title shot

SEAN O’MALLEY has likely punched his ticket to a third crack at the UFC’s bantamweight title. ‘Suga’ returned to action on the promotion’s historic White House card early this morning. Standing between the fan favourite and a second straight win following his pair of losses to Merab Dvalishvili was surging Canadian contender Aiemann Zahabi. A title shot against current champion Petr Yan, whom O’Malley controversially beat nearly four years ago, was, in the eyes of many MMA fans, the likely spoils for the victor. And O’Malley moved a giant step closer towards a rematch with Yan with a throwback second-round KO of Zahabi. Chants of “USA, USA, USA” rang out before O’Malley took the centre of the cage and started stalking Zahabi. READ MORE UFC NEWS Zahabi was happy to operate on the back foot and avoid the big and telegraphed shots coming from fan favourite O’Malley. He offered very little output other than a series of hard inside low kicks, which O’Malley cancelled out with a late flurry in the dying embers of the stanza. O’Malley’s confidence grew in the second, although he was still getting his leg chewed up by inside low kicks. His movement, however, wasn’t limited as he looked to counter the Canadian. Most read in Sport SUN VEGAS WELCOME OFFER: GET UP TO £100 BONUS Zahabi looked to be on wobbly legs after getting stung by a big straight right with just over a minute of the round remaining. But he was well and truly put on skates by a beautiful left hand, which paved the way for a one-two combo that sent him crashing to the canvas. O’Malley knew no more strikes were needed and saluted the troops before walking away from the fallen Zahabi. And after leaving the cage, he took the time to celebrate with President Donald Trump, who was seemingly happy to see him extend his win streak.