Sean O’Malley plans to have a short night at work in Noche UFC’s main event next month (Sat., Sept. 14, 2024).
The next Bantamweight title challenger, Merab Dvalishvili, is largely expected to be “Sugar’s” toughest test thanks to the style clash between the two. Striking favors the long and rangy champion, O’Malley, while Georgia’s Dvalishvili is one of the best wrestlers on the planet.
Regardless of Dvalishvili’s clear skill supremacy on the ground, O’Malley doesn’t expect to have to worry about it because of how quickly he’ll earn another knockout.
“I don’t think he is going to test my wrestling,” O’Malley told ESPN. “I don’t think he will be able to. ‘Aljo’ (Aljamain Sterling) I guess you could say tested my wrestling a little bit. Had me up against the fence twice, didn’t take me down once. I feel like that was a huge win to answer questions about wrestling. [Marlon] ‘Chito’ [Vera] didn’t even try to take me down once. So that was the cardio question. ‘Never has been five rounds, can he do that?’ Did that. Boom. I don’t think Merab is going to be the one to test my wrestling. I truly believe I will put his lights out very early.”
Finishing Dvalishvili with strikes would be an impressive feat for the champion as “The Machine” has only been finished once in his 21-fight career (17-4). That loss was Dvalishvili’s last when he went out cold from a third round guillotine submission against Ricky Simon in April 2018.
Dvalishvili, 33, has been rocked on a few occasions throughout his divisional record 10-fight winning streak but managed to pull through. For O’Malley, he just sees his upcoming challenger as too hittable to survive the power and precision he possesses.
“Styles. I know I can knock anybody out,” O’Malley said. “I just believe he is going to. It only takes one mistake. ‘Aljo’ made a mistake, got his lights put out. ‘Chito,’ wasn’t able to put his lights out, very, very tough dude, but I was able to find his chin quite a bit. I believe if I find Merab’s chin the way I was finding ‘Chito’s,’ the way I found ‘Aljo’s’ chin, I’m going to get him out of there.”