Former bantamweight champion, Sean O’Malley, admits he “over-promised” and “under-delivered” in his UFC 306 loss to Merab Dvalishvili earlier this month in Las Vegas, but still believes he won three of the five rounds in their 25-minute title fight.
And it seems as though “Suga” is not the only one crying “controversy.”
“The very first option is the champion that drops the belt gets a rematch for his belt,” former two-division title challenger, Chael Sonnen, said on YouTube (transcribed by MMA Junkie). “It was a respect that was shown to every single great champion. And by great champion, I’m talking about champions that could also move the needle. All of them were offered rematches, from Conor (McGregor) on down – more recently, Israel Adesanya. Right into it, I’m sharing with you: All the greats except Sean.”
There’s talk of having Dvalishvili defend his 135-pound strap against No. 2-ranked title contender Umar Nurmagomedov, though former flyweight kingpin, Deiveson Figueiredo, is also a candidate — assuming “The Machine” has a vote in his next fight.
“Motivation could largely be based upon opportunities — of which I didn’t see any add, I only saw him taken away,” Sonnen continued. “I’m just sharing — that is what I saw. But now you’ve got Merab, you’ve got Nurmagomedov, and you’ve got Figueiredo, and they can’t seem to quite figure it out. Well, there’s also a final option that should’ve come in front of all of them which is if there’s controversy, we look at a rematch. There’s controversy, go see rounds one, three and five. Watch that without commentating. Come back and tell me you don’t see controversy.”
Some see controversy, others see “fluke.”
“To say and to do is not the same,” Nurmagomedov wrote on Twitter. “Still waiting any news about fight.”
Matchmakers may not have any updates for several weeks.