But during a recent stream with N3on, he spoke about how the matchup came together and pointed out that his contract hasn’t been officially signed yet.“So my brother called me and said ‘Aiemann they offered you Sean O’Malley‘ and I was like ‘hell yeah’,” Zahabi recalled while in the cage at Tristar with the controversial streamer. “I called him out and I’m happy they gave it to us.“So we said yes, but how it works with the UFC is you send them a text to confirm, right away they send you a confirmation that they received your message and within 24 hours I get a fight contract, it’s signed it’s done, it’s sealed.Zahabi went on to suggest that this unusual process might have something to do with how tightly information was being controlled around such a high-profile event.He mentioned that some fighters, like Justin Gaethje, learned about their matchups only when the announcement aired.

In Zahabi’s case, he believes both he and Corey Sandhagen were options for O’Malley’s opponent until just before the reveal.Despite not having paperwork finalised at this stage of preparation in his training camp for such a huge moment in his career against O’Malley there doesn’t appear to be any frustration from Zahabi. Instead of being frustrated by not having everything locked in so close to such an important bout against O’Malley, Zahabi seemed quite calm about it all.Read more:UFC legend explains what makes Khamzat Chimaev unique after RAF Wrestling dealGilbert Burns outlines his post-UFC retirement plans to help improve the sportDarren Till to face reality TV star who once fought Floyd Mayweather in BKFC debut