O’Malley won for the seventh time in eight promotional appearances, scoring a first-round stoppage of Raulian Paiva in a bantamweight clash at UFC 269 on Saturday night. One bout later, Garbrandt was finished inside of a round by Kai Kara France in his flyweight debut — his fourth defeat in his last five outings.
O’Malley has been handled carefully thus far by UFC matchmakers, but White says the Contender Series alum has earned a step up in competition with his latest performance.
“The guy he beat tonight is a real guy, a very real guy,” White said at the UFC 269 post-fight press conference. “And he did it tonight in spectcualr fashion. When you talk to him, two things: He wants to get paid and he wants to fight higher level competition.
“Looks like we’re gonna have to pay him and get him some fights.”
Garbrandt, however, struggled since a meteoric rise to the top of the bantamweight division. The loss to Kara France was a missed opportunity, because “No Love” is still a popular figure within the promotion and could have received a quick push to the top of the 125-pound weight class with a victory.
White admitted he isn’t sure what direction to take with the former champion.
“I don’t know,” White said. “You move down a weight class and you get knocked out down a weight class. He’s been clipped a few times now.”