Sean O’Malley has no plans to fight Merab Dvalishvili.
That’s because “Suga” already unplugged “The Machine” when he stopped Aljamain Sterling in the UFC 292 pay-per-view (PPV) main event last month in Boston. In the champ’s mind, finishing “Funk Master” is no different than disposing of Dvalishvili.
They’re basically the same person (and even hold hands).
“I knocked out Merab August 19th, the same night I knocked out Aljo. They’re the same, they hold hands, they’re the same person,” the newly-crowned bantamweight titleholder told The MMA Hour. “I knocked them both out August 19th, so we’ll see what happens. I’ve called out the ‘Chito’ fight before me versus Aljo, before Pedro (Munhoz) versus ‘Chito.’ I said hey, ‘Chito’ goes out there and wins, I go out there and win, I’m fighting ‘Chito’ for my first title defense, and that’s what happened. That’s what’s going to happen next in my eyes. That’s what I want, but at the end of the day, I’ll go out there and knock out whoever they put in front of me.”
Not surprisingly, Dvalishvili (16-4) was flummoxed by the explanation.
“This all makes no sense champ,” the No. 2-ranked Dvalishvili responded on social media. “Say what you want to say … I am next in line. I’m ready … are you ?”
O’Malley (17-1, 1 NC) has been campaigning for a rematch against Marlon Vera after suffering the only loss of his career against “Chito” back in summer 2020. Vera (21-8-1) was quick to oblige, now we have to wait and see what UFC matchmakers have planned for the end-of-year PPV card in Las Vegas.
Nothing is official at this time, but based on these comments, it doesn’t look good for Dvalishvili.