‘Over promised and under delivered’, completely encapsulates Sean O’Malley‘s performance last night at UFC 306. O’Malley promised a knockout victory but ended up getting dominated for five rounds against Merab Dvalishvili. It was a major humbling experience for the former bantamweight champion who had a rather interesting reaction to his loss.
Sean O’Malley took the loss like a true sportsman and immediately apologized to his fans for his lackluster performance. Instead of making excuses, the fighter accepted his defeat and even made a hilarious video of him training his wrestling. On top of that, O’Malley posted pictures of him with emo filters on Snapchat.
During the fight, Sean O’Malley showed zero takedown defense and was helpless when Merab Dvalishvili shot for his legs. Former bantamweight champion, Henry Cejudo had insider information about O’Malley’s lack of takedown defense and his prediction was absolutely true. O’Malley’s coach, Tim Welch mentioned that the fighter will surprise everyone with his wrestling.
However, that wasn’t the case for O’Malley who failed to achieve his dream to become the most dominant champion. O’Malley’s reign was quite brief with only one title defense on his resume. ‘Suga’ will have to way more than that to be considered one of the greatest to ever do it.
UFC legend explains why Sean O’Malley failed against Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306
Sean O’Malley is well known as one of the most dynamic strikers on the UFC roster. He has the power to put the lights out of anyone. However, he has never been tested against a top wrestler like Merab Dvalishvili. Last year, Aljamain Sterling had a chance to do so but he failed due to his carelessness
Merab Dvalishvili, on the other hand, did not make any mistakes and stuck to his plan. He was active throughout the fight and shot takedowns frequently. According to former UFC champion, Michael Bisping, Dvalishvili made the best use of his cardio to outclass O’Malley at UFC 306.
Merab was constantly on the move. How can Sean O’Malley track him down and land those sniper shots of Merab is constantly in motion dancing around….It was a bad night at the office, he couldn’t get going.
Michael Bisping via his YouTube channel
Bisping also pointed out referee Herb Dean’s outrageous interferences during the fight, for which Dean got a variety of criticism. Similarly to Bisping, others such as Dana White and Islam Makhachev were disappointed with O’Malley’s flat performance. The fighter has promised to get back soon, it will be interesting to see what changes O’Malley will make going forward.
