Chinese fighter Song Yadong, ranked fifth in the UFC bantamweight division, openly accused former division champion Sean O’Malley of racism. The reason was the rather unusual entrance of the American at the first official face-off before their fight on January 25 at UFC 324 in Las Vegas.
O’Malley appeared at the face-off wearing a medical mask—a detail that immediately caught the eye and sparked a strong reaction in the Chinese MMA community.
“Yes, I consider it absolute racism. I really didn’t like it. Chinese fans didn’t like it either,” stated Yadong in an interview with AgFight.
At the same time, Song was quite calm about O'Malley's overall provocative behavior, which has long been compared to early Conor McGregor:
“He wants to be the second Conor—please, let him try. It even suits me because such things work well for promoting the fight and the promotion as a whole. Do what you want, Sugar. I'm just preparing to turn him off on January 25,” the fighter concluded.
