The teams between Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili have a history.
Ultimate Fighting Championship’s (UFC) Bantamweight title has only belonged to two men since UFC 259 in March 2021. While the former champion, Aljamain Sterling, historically saw his title reign begin in controversy via a fourth round disqualification, it ended definitively. The latter came thanks to a second round technical knockout from O’Malley at UFC 292 in August 2023 (watch highlights).
Bad blood boiled over between O’Malley and Sterling during their build, dripping onto the top contender waiting in the wings, Dvalishvili. “The Machine” now gets his chance to take the strap from O’Malley when they collide at Noche UFC next month (Sat., Sept. 14, 2024). However, Dvalishvil, Sterling, and O’Malley’s coach, Tim Welch, have all gotten into verbal exchanges online in recent weeks, keeping the feud alive and well.
“Initially, I thought it was because I said we’re going to target his nose in an interview, which isn’t a lie,” Welch told Submission Radio (h/t MMA Fighting). “I mean, it’s not a lie. I’ve never really said fighting words to those guys. But then Merab tweeted out and said, ‘Next time I see you, I’m going to take care of it,’ or something. And it’s like, come on, brother. I haven’t trained martial arts my whole life for a little 5-foot-4 guy to try to punk me out. I’ve trained my whole life and I’m only 34 years old. I’m six foot, 195 pounds. It’s like, alright, alright, well, we’ll see what happens.
“But that’s that’s besides the point,” he continued. “This is a huge fight. We got the No. 1 contender versus the champion of the world. That fight is going to happen 100 percent. ‘Sugar Show’ versus Merab, and we’re preparing and we’re more dialed in than we’ve ever been because Merab does pose a serious, serious threat.”
Sterling will more than likely be in the corner for Dvalishvili’s big opportunity. Had the pair not been best friends and longtime teammates, they’d have battled it out as one of Sterling’s title defenses.
Despite successfully moving to Featherweight after his title loss, Sterling has admitted to “saltiness” on occasion towards O’Malley or about the loss. From Welch’s perspective, their recent and continued spats are only evidence that that still exists.
“I think they’re still bitter,” Welch said. “They let the little curly-haired, funny guy who makes all these videos, who has tattoos on his face — Sean flat-lined [Sterling]. Sean punched him and dropped bombs on him, forced him to turtle up. You’ve got this world championship on the line and you’re fighting the ‘Sugar Show,’ I’m glad you were thinking about fighting me and not the fight you are in.”