O'Malley upsets Yan with split-decision win in UFC 280 thriller

"The Sugar Show" provided another dramatic twist Saturday.

Rising star Sean O'Malley earned an upset win over former UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan in a wild back-and-forth fight at UFC 280.

Two judges scored the fight 29-28 for O'Malley, while the third had it 29-28 for Yan. All three judges agreed that Yan won the second round and O'Malley took the final stanza.

Yan's takedown-heavy approach appeared to have earned him a close win, but O'Malley ultimately secured the biggest victory of his career. The American came into the bout as the No. 11 bantamweight, while the Russian sat at No. 1.

The opening round was a close affair. O'Malley split his opponent's high guard on several occasions, while Yan aggressively moved forward to eliminate a reach disadvantage. Yan then switched his approach midway through the stanza, shooting for a takedown. But O'Malley was able to work back to his feet and threatened his own level change late.

The fight's biggest moments came early in the second round when O'Malley cracked Yan with a huge left shot. But a clearly staggered Yan immediately returned fire, landing a big left of his own before taking the fight to the ground.

O'Malley came out of the gates fast in the third round, landing several hard punches and causing a significant cut above Yan's right eye. Yan again resorted to grappling, earning a few more takedowns without inflicting significant damage, including one in the final moments that seemed to have secured the round.

It was just the fourth defeat of Yan's career and the first time he's lost twice in a row, having also fallen to Aljamain Sterling in a unification bout in April.

O'Malley, meanwhile, moved to 16-1 with his first decision win since 2018.