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Merab Dvalishvili involved in five-Car accident in New York City: ‘I got in a huge accident, I got hit’

Merab Dvalishvili involved in five-car accident in New York City I was in a huge accident i got hit Merab Dvalishvili was involved in a five-car car accident in New York City on Tuesday. The No. 1 ranked…

Merab Dvalishvili was involved in a five-car car accident in New York City on Tuesday.

The No. 1 ranked bantamweight contender was in the backseat of a car and he shared a video with all the airbags deployed. After getting out of the car, Merab Dvalishvili showed several of the other cars involved in the accident, which looked to be quite serious.

‘’I am in New York for one day, couple hours, and I got in a huge accident,” Dvalishvili said in the video (via MMAMania). “I was in a Uber, and our car got hit by some other cars. I was sitting here. I got hit. Thank God I’m okay.’’

Merab Dvalishvili told to fight somewhere else Dana White avoid title fight

As Dvalishvili says, luckily he is okay as the accident looked to be quite scary as cars were severely damaged, but the bantamweight contender is walking away from the incident healthy.

Merab Dvalishvili focused on getting Sean O’Malley fight

Merab Dvalishvili is currently the No. 1 ranked bantamweight and is coming off a win over Henry Cejudo.

Merab Dvalishvili turns in dominant decision win over Henry Cejudo title shot at UFC 298 — Mandatory Credit: Zuffa LLC

Dvalishvili is likely the next title contender for Sean O’Malley but after UFC 299, ‘Suga’ called out Ilua Topuria which frustrated Dvalishvili at the time.

“He’s a little bit stupid. He should mention my name and he should call me out to make an even bigger fight. Me and him, we are fighting. There is no other fights for him or for me. This fight has to happen. I don’t know, somehow he’s not mentioning my name and he’s not calling me out, doesn’t make this fight an even bigger fight,” Dvalishvili continued. “I was very surprised (when O’Malley called out Topuria). Like, what is this guy doing? Just either be quiet or don’t call out somebody who’s not gonna fight you… Sean, it’s not like he cleaned (out) the division or something… I was very surprised. I was mad actually that he don’t call me out,” Dvalishvili said to MMAJunkie.

Merab Dvalishvili Killed Myself Lost Petr Yan UFC — Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy – USA TODAY Sports

Since then, O’Malley has said Dvalishvili will be next but no date has been scheduled for the highly-anticipated bantamweight title fight.

UFC indicates Cory Sandhagen will fight for 135-pound title with win over Umar Nurmagomedov in Abu Dhabi

Cory Sandhagen is one of the easiest going guys in all of mixed martial arts. He doesn’t complain, he…

Cory Sandhagen is one of the easiest going guys in all of mixed martial arts.

He doesn’t complain, he doesn’t make demands, and he never turns down a fight. But don’t for a moment think that ‘The Sandman’ doesn’t know his worth. So when the UFC came to him offering a main event matchup with Umar Nurmagomedov in Abu Dhabi on August 3, Sandhagen was more than willing to take the bout as long as the juice was worth the squeeze.

“I don’t try to complain too much,” Sandhagen told MMA Junkie. “I try not to have too many opinions. I just ask for more money if they want me to do things that I feel like are a little bit unreasonable, not that it was the most unreasonable ask. It’s still going to be a main event in a really cool city.

“I get to go to the Middle East again, which is fun for me. I’ll actually be able to explore a little bit before and after and go early to do the whole shifting my time zone thing, which I didn’t do the last couple times. I’m still really excited about it. The last couple times, Abu Dhabi fans were really awesome and really fair. I didn’t feel like I was in enemy territory or anything the last couple times. So yeah, I’m still excited about it.”

Aside from banking some extra cash for his trip to the Middle East, Cory Sandhagen will be fighting for his first crack at the undisputed bantamweight world title.

Current 135-pound king ‘Sugar’ Sean O’Malley is gearing up for a clash with the divison’s top-ranked-contender Merab Dvalishvili later this year, the winner likely to take on either Sandhagen or Nurmagomedov.

“Obviously, the first time that I went to dinner with the UFC, they offered me Umar, and I was like, ‘That’s a little bit down in the rankings.’ They were like, ‘Well, it’ll be a No. 1 contender fight.’ I was like, ‘OK, absolutely.’ Then, obviously that one got scrapped [in August 2023 when Nurmagomedov withdrew].

“This go-around, they relayed to me I don’t want to say the exact quote but, ‘I don’t know how you won’t be next after Merab [Dvalishvili], if you win this fight.’ Also, who else is there that can really do that? I also think that me and Sean is a really huge fight.”

Cory Sandhagen will be rooting for sean o’Malley

After capturing the bantamweight title with a stunning second-round knockout of Aljamain Sterling in August, Sean O’Malley successfully defended the belt against Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera in the UFC 299 headliner in March. Initially, O’Malley lobbied for a champion vs. champion clash with Ilia Topuria before Dana White quickly shut down those talks.

Dvalishvili will go into his first title opportunity on a 10-fight win streak, his most recent win coming against former two-division champion Henry Cejudo. As it stands, ‘The Machine’ is favored to come out on top in the yet-to-be-announced bout, sitting as a -125 (55.56% implied chance) favorite on multiple sportsbooks.

Sandhagen will gladly take on either man, but he believes a fight with Sean O’Malley would be a far more marketable matchup.

“I’ll be rooting for [Sean] O’Malley in the next one, just because the bigger the fight, the bigger the challenge, the better,” Sandhagen said. “I’ll be rooting for O’Malley and that’s one the fans want to see really, really bad. I really want to give the fans what they want. So yeah, I hope that’s the case. … I think that they both have really, really tough tasks ahead of them in very different ways. Merab definitely needs to be able to close that space better than he has shown to do in the past. Then, O’Malley defended a few of Sterling’s pretty good shots. O’Malley can definitely wrestle, too. But wrestling that body type is kind of difficult.

“It’s a little bit weird but that’s such a big gap that Merab is going to have to cover. It’s going to be really tough on him. It might take him a while and obviously Sean is in really good shape and can move his feet. We saw (that) from the Chito fight, too. I think Merab has his hands more full than O’Malley does, but Merab definitely has a ton of heart. He’s been chomping at the bit for this world title for a really, really long time, so it’s hard to not count that in either.”

Exclusive – Urijah Faber unsure Sean O’Malley wins fight with Merab Dvalishvili: ‘That’s a bad matchup’

Urijah Faber recently spoke with us here at Lowkick MMA and gave his thoughts on how the current bantamweight…

Urijah Faber recently spoke with us here at Lowkick MMA and gave his thoughts on how the current bantamweight champion, Sean O’Malley, would fare against what many consider to be his toughest challenger yet: Merab Dvalishvili.

It seems almost fated that O’Malley and Dvalishvili will fight for the title. ‘Suga’ keeps icing everybody the UFC puts in his way, and Dvalishvili has been a seemingly unstoppable force in the 135lbs division for a long time now. ‘The Machine’ is currently riding an astonishing 10-fight win streak inside the UFC, and it’s getting virtually impossible to deny him a title shot now.

The debate of Sean O’Malley vs Merab Dvalishvili is an intriguing one. Some don’t see how O’Malley will be able to contain the near nonstop pressure of ‘The Machine’, while others believe ‘Suga’ will rise to the occasion. Urijah Faber was kind enough to weigh in on this matter and provide his opinion as a UFC hall-of-famer and elite MMA coach.

Urijah Faber weighs in on the matchup between Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili

“I think it’s going to be hard to say,” Urijah Faber told LowKick MMA reporter Makoa Goble when asked how O’Malley might handle the offensive wrestling pressure that ‘The Machine’ can bring to the table. “You would think so, but nobody else has been able to (stop the wrestling), even Henry Cejudo.”

Merab Dvalishvili’s smothering wrestling pressure has been unstoppable so far. Many have accurately described ‘The Machine’ as a ‘grinder’, and it is true. For the most part, he simply gives his opponents no quarter and no room to breathe.

“Honestly, that’s a bad matchup for O’Malley,” Faber continued. “Because Merab is so durable. That dude is durable. He’s gone against some killers, and just kind of walked through their best offense. The only time he’s really been hurt is when he knocked himself out, slamming himself, ya know.”

didn’t notice on first watch but Merab totally knocks himself out on the initial takedown https://t.co/5af2CPF3MA

— Andrew (@andrewdcabello) April 26, 2018

“But, O’Malley has got that It factor. He’s got a finesse about him, he’s got like a matador type of style. Merab is definitely a bull, and If O’Malley can have his perfect fight, he’ll just be tagging him with clean shots and staying on the outside. O’Malley’s grappling is really good. I’ve trained with some of his training partners, and they are really high-level training partners… It could go either way.”

Who do you think will win between Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili?

Merab Dvalishvili announces UFC 306 title fight with Sean O’Malley at Las Vegas Sphere in September

Surging bantamweight champion, Merab Dvalishvili has confirmed he will finally challenge for divisional gold later this year at UFC…

Surging bantamweight champion, Merab Dvalishvili has confirmed he will finally challenge for divisional gold later this year at UFC 306 in September, tackling undisputed titleholder, Sean O’Malley at the Las Vegas Sphere.

Dvalishvili, the current number one ranked contender, has been sidelined since February, most recently turning in an impressive unanimous decision win over former two-weight champion, Henry Cejudo in the pair’s title-eliminator clash.

As for Montana native, O’Malley the striking phenom turned in his first successful defense of the bantamweight crown at UFC 299 back in March, avenging his sole professional defeat in a one-sided decision shutout win against Ecuadorian challenger, Marlon Vera.

Merab Dvalishvili set to serve as backup to UFC 299 title fight main event already cutting weight — Mandatory Credit: Media News Group – Los Angles Daily News

And staking his claim for a shot at bantamweight gold in the time since, Georgian grappling ace, Merab Dvalishvili has called for a title fight against Dana White’s Contender Series product, O’Malley before the end of the year – with the latter keen on a UFC 306 return at the Las Vegas Sphere.

Merab Dvalishvili confirms UFC 306 title fight with Sean O’Malley

Overnight, Dvalishvili has provided a significant update on the status of a title fight against O’Malley – confirming that he will fight the incumbent gold holder at UFC 306 in September.

In the midst of an impressive 10-fight winning run, Tbilisi native, Dvalishvili has racked up victories over the likes of former champion, Petr Yan, Marlon Moraes, Jose Aldo, and John Dodson during his roughshod run through the bantamweight ranks.

Sean O'Malley vows to become as big a star as Conor McGregor in 2024 ahead of UFC 299 — Mandatory Credit: Zuffa LLC

Himself winning spoils back in August of last year, O’Malley managed to end the record-setting title reign of Dvalishvili’s close friend and training partner, Aljamain Sterling with a blistering knockout stoppage in Boston, Massachusetts.

With The Ultimate Fighter 32 kicking off later this month – starring undisputed flyweight champion, Alexa Grasso, and former gold holder, Valentina Shevchenko, the pair are also expected to feature at UFC 306, having headlined last year’s Noche UFC event during Mexican Independence Day weekend, in a decision draw rematch.

Who wins in a bantamweight title fight: Sean O’Malley or Merab Dvalishvili?

UFC bantamweight champ Sean O’Malley teases September fight with No. 1 ranked Merab Dvalishvili

‘Sugar’ Sean O’Malley appears to be eyeing a return to the Octagon in September. Last month, O’Malley successfully defended…

‘Sugar’ Sean O’Malley appears to be eyeing a return to the Octagon in September.

Last month, O’Malley successfully defended his bantamweight world title for the first time against division rival Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera in the UFC 299 headliner. Sugar’ delivered a dominant performance and scored a clean sweep against the Ecuadorian before calling out newly minuted featherweight king Ilia Topuria for a potential champion vs. champion superfight.

But first, O’Malley has a big problem to deal with in his own weight class. A problem named Merab Dvalishvili. ‘The Machine’ has won 10 straight and currently sits in the No. 1 spot in the bantamweight rankings which undoubtedly makes him the next man in line for a shot at the 135-pound crown.

Conceding to what is right, O’Malley acknowledged that Dvalishvili would be next despite being more interested in a tussle with Topuria. Now, the ‘Sugar Show’ has teased when fight fans might see the epic encounter. Taking to X, O’Malley suggested a potential date with just one word. Technically, two words merged into one word. That’s called a portmanteau.

Is Sean O’Malley targeting UFC 306 in The Sphere?

“Sugtember” O’Malley wrote, clearly teasing a return this September. If that proves to be the case, the fight will likely go down on September 14 when the promotion makes its highly anticipated debut inside The Sphere in Las Vegas for UFC 306.

O’Malley is 18-1 in his mixed martial arts career (19-0 if you asked him) and has 10 total victories inside the Octagon. Last August, he captured the bantamweight belt with a brilliant second-round knockout of ex-champion Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292.

Like O’Malley, Merab Dvalishvili has 10 wins under the UFC banner against just two losses. He has not lost a fight since 2018 and is fresh off an impressive showing against former two-division champion Henry Cejudo at UFC 298 in February.

UFC star Sean O’Malley confirms he will fight Merab Dvalishvili next: ‘I’m not ducking that little dude’

Amid speculation linking him to a featherweight title siege off the back of his one-sided victory over Marlon Vera…

Amid speculation linking him to a featherweight title siege off the back of his one-sided victory over Marlon Vera earlier this month to defend his bantamweight crown at UFC 299, Sean O’Malley insists he will face-off with the surging, Merab Dvalishvili in his next outing at 135 pounds.

O’Malley, the current undisputed bantamweight champion, lodged his first successful defense of that title earlier this month in a heated rematch against Vera, avenging his sole professional loss in a lopsided judging win atop the UFC 299 card in their Florida re-run.

Sean O'Malley told to forget title fight with Ilia Topuria by Dana White after UFC 299 that's crazy talk — Mandatory Credit: Chris Unger – Zuffa LLC

And immediately noting his interest in potentially pursuing a title a division higher at 145 pounds, O’Malley urged the promotion to field him against newly-crowned gold holder, Ilia Topuria in a trip to Spain – a call which was immediately shut down by UFC brass, Dana White to boot.

Weighing up the prospect of taking on the surging Georgian grappling ace, Dvalishvili in what many have penned as the toughest stylistic matchup for O’Malley as defending champion, the Contender Series product has welcomed a bout against the number one contender.

Sean O’Malley calls for Merab Dvalishvili next

With his head coach, Tim Welch admitting that Dvalishvili is a massive problem for them and the championship reign, that has not deterred O’Malley was eyeing a fight with the Tbilisi contender next.

Sean O'Malley heckled by crowd during UFC 299 press conference labels Chito Vera a piñata in heated face off — Mandatory Credit: Chris Unger – Zuffa LLC

“Merab’s (Dvalishvili) next, Merab is f*cking next,” Sean O’Malley said on his podcast. “Your wish is granted. “A lot of people said I’m ducking him. I just really am not ducking that little dude. I like the fight for me. There’s multiple ways to win, I’m excited about the fight now, finally.”

“I was just never ducking him, I was just never excited to fight him, I don’t know,” Sean O’Malley explained. “Now, is just the right time. Just like the ‘Chito’ (Marlon Vera) rematch, the time will come – to where it’s the right time to fight certain people. Merab’s next. And, careful what you wish for, buddy.”

Most recently turning in his own dominant victory, Dvalishvili landed a one-sided decision victory against former two-division champion and Olympic gold medal winner, Henry Cejudo on the main card of UFC 298 last month in Anaheim.

Who wins in a title fight this year: Sean O’Malley or Merab Dvalishvili?