Sean OโMalley will defend his UFC bantamweight title for the second time this Saturday against Merab Dvalishvili. Going into the fight night, the stakes are high, and everybody has given their predictions for the fight. OโMalley is highly confident about his skills and believes Dvalishvili is too emotional to be on such a big stage.ย
Merab Dvalishvili didnโt like Umar Nurmagomedovโs recent meteoric rise to the top contender position. The Georgian star believes the hype behind Nurmagomedov is only due to his connection with Khabib Nurmagomedov. Dvalishvili walked out of an interview when a reporter asked him about Nurmagomedov. According to OโMalley, these are the signs of being emotionally weak.ย
Merab is very emotional and he’s getting fired up and I have seen him walk off an interview when someone asked him if Umar would be next. I knew Merab will see it, me saying Umarโs more deserving than Merab and it’s gonna f**** drive him crazy.ย
Sean OโMalley via Daniel Cormierโs YouTube channelย
OโMalley accepted Nurmagomedovโs callout a few weeks ago and mentioned heโs looking forward to fighting a Dagestani.ย As it turns out, that was a sneaky jibe towards Dvalishvili to frustrate the top challenger. โSugaโ mentioned that over the last few months, he has been successfully playing mind games and poking fun at Dvalishvili.
Both the fighters have been pretty active with online skits. In fact, Dvalishvili has produced more skits to troll โSuga.โ However, things got heated after their first-ever photoshoot in front of the Las Vegas Sphere. As the rivalry continues to grow, both OโMalley and Dvalishvili are eager to get a knockout finish on fight night.ย
Sean OโMalley and Merab Dvalishvili argue over getting knockout finishesย
Knockout finishes are always fun to watch.ย Doing it in the main event of a grand event like Noche UFC would be a massive highlight. Sean OโMalley is well known for his knockout power and has repeatedly claimed to be getting one this Saturday.ย
Merab Dvalishvili is known for his ground game and cardio and is expected to take a wrestling-heavy approach. The challenger is hyped and believes he can finish OโMalley with his striking.
During their recent press conference, Dvalishvili made fun of OโMalleyโs claims of getting a KO. In fact, the Georgian fighter referenced his fighting career to prove a point.
Keep dreaming. Nobody knock me out yet. Nobody. Keep dreaming, Sean OโMalley. You didnโt knock out Chito Vera.
Merab Dvalishvili via UFC 306 pre-fight press conferenceย
โSugaโ was quick and reminded Dvalishvili that he had knocked out Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292, with intentions to hurt Dvalishvili. Aljamain Sterling and Dvalishvili are close friends and the Georgian claimed that the fight was an early stoppage and OโMalley got lucky. As such, the Georgian star will have the chance to take revenge at the Noche UFC main event.