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“I just got surgery this morning and I’m on OxyContin and I just went live on Twitch,” O’Malley told Adin Ross.

Sean O’Malley had surgery earlier this week to repair damage suffered in the buildup to his Merab Dvalishvili title fight atop the UFC 306 fight card last month inside Sphere in Las Vegas, a five-round decision loss that cost “Suga” the bantamweight title.

Not even Suga State Athletic Commission could save his strap.

“First off I wanna say, I didn’t take any pain pills — I didn’t even go to sleep,” O’Malley said. “They did the surgery, I was wide awake. It hurt a little bit, I’m not gonna lie. Whoa dude I feel like I’m peaking. Alright Twitch fam … we’re here, we’re there, we’re everywhere.”

Watch the Twitch stream replay here.

Fans on social media are calling O’Malley’s Oxy-induced Twitch stream “the dumbest thing he could have done,” which tells me they missed this bizarre procedure. The good news is, O’Malley is still cleared for that immediate title shot upon his return.

Assuming Umar Nurmagomedov is champion in 2025.

No word yet on when O’Malley, 29, is expected to make his Octagon return, but he may have to blast his way past this resurgent ex-champion, who has plans for his own 135-pound title shot in 2025. In addition, the promotion has yet to determine when Dvalishvili will make his first division title defense.

Still some missing pieces to this bantamweight puzzle.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Chad Johnson and James Harrison have some unique Super Bowl plans.

According to their chatter on social media, the former NFL stars expect to meet in an exhibition fight under MMA rules sometime prior to the upcoming Super Bowl LIX, which takes place at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Feb. 9.

Johnson, the flashy wide receiver who built his reputation with the Cincinnati Bengals, was first to tease the bout via a tweet on Wednesday.

“I’m fighting James Harrison in a exhibition MMA format three-round bout in New Orleans before Super Bowl, I’m so excited,” Johnson wrote.

Rather than shoot down the rumor, Harrison appeared to confirm Johnson’s announcement, replaying in a quote tweet, “It’s five rounds, [Johnson.]”

That reply led to a back-and-forth between the retired football players, with Johnson saying the number of rounds won’t matter because he’s predicting a first-round finish, and Harrison saying that Johnson won’t be able to stand when the fight is over.

Johnson, 46, went on to tout his MMA skills, boasting that he will submit Harrison with a guillotine choke using “a collection of grappling techniques and strategies where his strength won’t matter.” A one-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, Harrison (also 46) would likely enter any contest against Johnson with a considerable size advantage.

Should the bout come to fruition, it would mark Johnson’s second foray into combat sports. He competed in an exhibition boxing bout against Brian Maxwell on June 6, 2021, on the Floyd Mayweather vs. Logan Paul undercard. Though Johnson fared well for the most part, he was knocked down in closing moments of the four-round exhibition bout. Due to the fight being an exhibition, no official winner was announced.

Harrison was a fearsome linebacker during his 15-year pro career and a key member of the Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl champion teams in 2006 and 2009. In 2023, Harrison was inducted into the franchise’s Hall of Honor.

No date has been announced for Johnson vs. Harrison and it sounds like the athletes themselves are still sorting out the details.

In related news, current Las Vegas Raiders star and diehard UFC fan Maxx Crosby, 27, also expressed an interest in mixing the martial arts in an interview with TMZ.

“All my guys, all my teammates are like, 100 percent, they already expect me to do it,” Crosby said. “I’m like, shit, I haven’t even thought about it that much. I love fighting. I box damn near every single day, so we’ll see.

“I love it. I truly love it, so we’ll see. If my heart desires it and I want to go in there, shit, I might. I’m not ever putting anything out the window. You live one life, so I’m going to do everything I put my heart to.”

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Alex Pereira and Raquel Pennington put their championships on the line Saturday in Salt Lake City.

The main and co-main event of UFC 307 are set to go with Pereira (205) and Pennington (135) both successfully making weight for their respective title defenses at Friday’s official weigh-ins. Pereira faces Khalil Rountree Jr., who also weighed in at 205 pounds, and Pennington takes on Julianna Peña in a long-awaited grudge match. Peña stepped to the scale at 134.5 pounds.

See weigh-in video for the top-2 fights below.

Possibly awaiting the winner of the bantamweight title fight is former PFL star Kayla Harrison, who weighed in at 136 pounds for her main card bout against Ketlen Vieira (136). After starting her career in the lightweight division, Harrison has now successfully hit the bantamweight mark twice, though both times she has used the one-pound allowance for a non-title fight.

Should Harrison defeat Vieira and earn a title shot, she will need to make 135 pounds or lower to be eligible for a championship opportunity.

All 24 fighters competing on Saturday’s card at Delta Center in Salt Lake City successfully made weight, including two-time strawweight champion Carla Esparza who has announced she will retire following her fight with Tecia Pennington.

Check out UFC 307 official weigh-in results below.

Main Card (ESPN+ at 10 p.m. ET)

Alex Pereira (205) vs. Khalil Rountree Jr. (205)

Raquel Pennington (135) vs. Julianna Peña (134.5)

Jose Aldo (136) vs. Mario Bautista (136)

Ketlen Vieira (136) vs. Kayla Harrison (136)

Roman Dolidze (185.5) vs. Kevin Holland (185.5)

Preliminary Card (ESPNEWS/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET)

Stephen Thompson (171) vs. Joaquin Buckley (170.5)

Marina Rodriguez (115.5) vs. Iasmin Lucindo (116)

Cesar Almeida (185.5) vs. Ihor Potieria (185.5)

Austin Hubbard (156) vs. Alexander Hernandez (156)

Early Prelims (ESPN+ at 6:30 p.m. ET)

Ryan Spann (205.5) vs. Ovince Saint Preux (205.5)

Carla Esparza (115.5) vs. Tecia Pennington (115)

Court McGee (170) vs. Tim Means (171)

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Dricus du Plessis vanquished his greatest rival at UFC 305 and now has a number of options ahead of him.

This past August, the middleweight champion scored a dramatic fourth-round submission of Israel Adesanya to put their feud on ice (for now), and has since been tied to a number of potential title challengers, including the winner of the UFC 308 clash between Robert Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev, a rematch with Sean Strickland, or even a superfight with light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.

Du Plessis’ coach Morne Visser told Submission Radio they are expecting a rematch, but it’s actually one with Whittaker, who du Plessis defeated at UFC 290. Strickland has been resolute in claiming he deserves another crack at du Plessis after dropping the title to him via a narrow split decision in their first meeting, but Visser thinks Strickland is still one win away.

“I had a conversation actually yesterday with Dricus,” Visser said (transcription via Denis Shkuratov). “I said to him, ‘There’s only one thing for certain at this stage, only one thing, and that’s that we’ve got to be ready to fight in Sydney in February.’ My opinion is Sean’s overselling it. He’s just had one win after Dricus, that was against [Paulo] Costa. Whittaker had two, and I think he’s going to go for number three now.

“So, my honest opinion is that next for us in line will be Whittaker in Sydney in February. I think he’s going to beat Khamzat, and I honestly think that they’re going to give him the shot.”

Chimaev is undefeated in 13 pro bouts, though his goal of becoming a champion at middleweight and welterweight has been stifled by grueling stretches of inactivity. When he steps into the cage to fight Whittaker on Oct. 26, it will be just his fourth fight since 2020.

Despite the buzz still swirling around Chimaev, Visser isn’t convinced he has the skills to beat the former UFC champion just yet.

“Rob’s a fast learner,” Visser said. “He learns out of his mistakes. He’s dead honest to himself. That’s very, very important in this sport. If you bullshit yourself, you’re in big, big shit. Even with Dricus, I mean, you guys haven’t seen the Dricus that I coach. People are really, really in shit the day when that Dricus rocks up in a fight night. The same thing goes for Rob. I think that Khamzat—I mean, that fight against [Kamaru] Usman, who’s a genuine welterweight, was way too close for me. His standup is, in my opinion, suspect, his wrestling, he couldn’t do anything with Usman. Rob’s standup is phenomenal. His wrestling and his ground work’s awesome. I honestly think Khamzat’s out of his league here. He’s got to go back to welter where he maybe stands a chance to become something or become a champion.

“At this stage, I honestly think it’s Rob. Rob beats Khamzat and I don’t think it’s going to be on points. He’s going to grind him. Rob’s a tough dude and he’s smart and he’s got a smart team behind him.”

One other matchup possibility Visser discussed was another fight with Adesanya. The loss to du Plessis put Adesanya on the first losing streak of his MMA career and he’s now lost three of his past four fights, but Adesanya’s performance against du Plessis, the intensity of their rivalry, and Adesanya’s Nigerian roots could still make for a compelling championship bout.

“I think that we will fight Izzy, and Dana is talking about it,” Visser said. “I think that the rematch that will be given to Izzy will be against Dricus, which makes the most sense to Africans in South Africa. I honestly think that we’re going to get the rematch against Izzy sometime next year in 2025.

“Also, you guys saw the Izzy that came out fighting for Dricus, and you saw the Izzy that went to fight Sean. The Izzy that faced Dricus came out to fight Dricus. Sean’s got no chance against that Izzy. That guy, he was the best version of Izzy I’ve ever seen. So if the UFC gives him the rematch, awesome, but I think that Izzy shouldn’t waste his time with shit like that. I think we all saw he’s a lot superior fighter with that Dricus fight.”

As for Pereira, Visser claims a bout with the Brazilian knockout artist was discussed on the evening of UFC 305 after du Plessis defeated Adesanya. However, they’re more interested in moving up to challenge Pereira for the light heavyweight title than seeing him drop back down to 185 pounds to challenge du Plessis.

Pereira recently stated his current plan is to remain at 205 pounds, so the point is moot for now. Should he and du Plessis ever face off, Visser is confident his fighter would come out on top—and not necessarily via the path most would expect.

“With wrestling and grappling, same as standup, it’s not something you can fix within six months or a year,” Visser said. “When you’re under pressure, your subconscious mind puts you back in what you know, and he knows kind of nothing when it comes to the wrestling and the grappling area. And that’s not where we want to fight him. We want to fight him where he’s good at.

“Dricus won’t be interested in fighting him on the floor. We would want to fight him in standup and in his standup game there’s a lot of flaws. I’ve seen him. He hates going backwards. He hates it. He hates it when you give him punishment. He hates it when you’re in control of the fight and that’s the way Dricus fights. He doesn’t want to fight. It’s not going to be we’re going to be on our back foot and give him his way. That’s the only time that he’s good. I’ve seen him on his back foot where he’s really, really shit. … This game, Dricus has been working at it forever. There’s no way you can fix becoming a wrestler or a grappler or a standup fighter within six months or a year. It doesn’t exist. It doesn’t happen like that.”

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