Former WBC super lightweight champion Devin Haney has no shortage of rivals in the boxing world, but now it seems the 26-year-old is picking fights outside the ring, too. Following Saturday’s UFC 316 event, which featured the highly anticipated rematch between Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili, ‘The Dream’ fired shots at ‘Suga’ for some past remarks. Sean O’Malley’s dreams of redemption were choked out—literally—on June 7th, when Merab Dvalishvili submitted him in the third round of their bantamweight title clash at the Prudential Center in Newark. It was deja vu for ‘Suga’, marking his second straight loss to the relentless Georgian after their first showdown at UFC 306 in Las Vegas back in September 2024.

But while O’Malley was busy nursing his wounds, ‘The Dream’ was busy celebrating. Their feud didn’t start in Newark—it had been brewing long before, with O’Malley once claiming he’d smoke ‘The Dream’ in a crossover boxing match. So when O’Malley took the L, Haney pounced on X, posting, “Remember O’Malley was doing all that trolling?”

The jab wasn’t out of nowhere. Haney and O’Malley have gone back and forth on social media for months. But this time, Haney’s post drew fire from none other than UFC legend Chael Sonnen. ‘The American Gangster’ stepped in with a sharp warning, “Oh no, Devin, he’d crush you. Wasn’t kidding at all.”

It’s not the first time a potential bout has been talked about. Last year, when Devin Haney trash-talked O’Malley on X, the latter hit back. He said, “If Devin Haney wants to talk s—, if he really wants to fight, I’ll put a million dollars on me vs. him, no time limit, and we can fight. MMA rules, just a fight. Or we can do no rules, if you wanna f—— eye poke me you can. Do a real f—— fight. If you want to talk s— on Twitter, we can really, actually fight.” 

Get the EssentiallySports Daily Newsletter. Stay ahead of the game with daily updates, exclusive stories, expert takes, and the biggest moments from the world's most popular sports.

Whether Haney shrugs off Sonnen’s words or rethinks the beef remains to be seen. But it’s almost a replay of the trash talk that erupted after O’Malley’s first loss to Merab. 

Devin Haney flexes his bank account after Sean O’Malley’s $1 million challenge

Last year, following O’Malley’s loss to Merab, Devin Haney wrote, “O’Malley b—- a– lost..” This, of course, started a feud between them, as O’Malley responded by stating, “Still k— you.” However, the 30-year-old didn’t stop there. The former bantamweight champion called out Haney, saying, “If Devin Haney really wants to talk s—… I’ll put a million dollars on me versus him, no time limit… we can really, really actually fight!”

But Haney dismissed the wager with a flex of financial superiority. “I don’t fight for a million dollars like you,” he responded on X. “Let’s do a boxing fight and give us a shot at making real money.” O’Malley later softened his stance, saying, “I would box him… just box him to protect him,” hinting he’d step into the ring on Dana White’s future boxing cards.

Having said that, the war of words between Sean O’Malley and Devin Haney shows no signs of cooling off. While ‘Suga’ hasn’t clapped back just yet, chances are once he’s done licking his wounds, a response won’t be far behind. Do you think O’Malley should fight Haney?