Merab Dvalishvili is ready to face Sean O’Malley in the octagon. The Georgian bantamweight has been building up this title showdown online for a while now. The potential showdown at UFC 306 has got more exciting, especially with Dvalishvili’s latest statement. Here is what happened:
Merab Dvalishvili recently sat down to have a conversation with The Schmo. During their discussion, ‘The Machine’ talked about his upcoming bout with Sean O’Malley and the UFC 292 title fight against Aljamain Sterling. According to Dvalishvili, Marc Goddard, who reffed the fight, stopped it prematurely.
I’m going to beat Sean O’Malley, and I’m going to show the MMA fans that he got lucky because he had referee Marc Goddard. Because Marc Goddard, we all know he likes to stop fights early.
Merab Dvalishvili via Schmo YT Channel
Further, he gave the example of his fight with Marlon Moraes at UFC 266. Supposedly, he told the referee that even if he got caught, he must not stop the fight. Dvalishvili said he would rather go sleep, than have the fight stopped prematurely. He also brought up Keith Peterson, saying he is a good referee who usually never stops fights early and gives fighters a chance to fight.
Merab Dvalishvili says Sean O’Malley got lucky that Marc Goddard was refereeing his fight against Aljamain Sterling:
“We all know [Goddard] likes to stop fights early… Doesn’t matter who I’m fighting against, I tell referee in locker room ‘I want to die there, I was training… pic.twitter.com/mqJQlCTMXJ
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) July 28, 2024
According to Dvalishvili, Goddard told Sterling to move, but as soon as he did, the referee called the fight off. The fight ended by TKO in the second round, leaving O’Malley as the new bantamweight champion, and Merab Dvalishvili intends to make things right.
Dana White previously declared that Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili will headline the main event at UFC 306. The fight will be O’Malley’s second title defense. As such, former champion Dominick Cruz had some things to say about the upcoming fight.
Dominick Cruz (Image via X)Cruz recently sat down for a conversation on the Anik & Florian Podcast. He made an interesting point commenting on the matchup and what he makes of the fight. According to the former two-time bantamweight champion, the matchup favours Sean O’Malley stylistically.
Stylistically, you got a short guy who wants to wrestle, and we know for a fact doesn’t want to stand up … It’s not what he wants to do. It’s not where he’s comfortable, so the fight starts standing. That’s where I see it’s a good stylistic matchup for O’Malley.
Dominick Cruz via Anik & Florian Podcast
O’Malley would try to keep the fight on the feet to capitalize on his striking advantage, which is his strong suit. Meanwhile, Dvalishvili would aim to close the distance, take O’Malley down, and neutralize his striking with ground control. However, it is interesting to note that O’Malley has developed his ground game with BJJ. According to his coach, ‘Suga’ is pretty good at it.
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