Sean O’Malley believes the third time could be the charm in his series against bantamweight champ Merab Dvalishvili, but he also knows there’s work to do.
Dvalishvili picked up another dominant title defense this past Saturday with a unanimous decision win over Cory Sandhagen in the co-main event of UFC 320. O’Malley — who has lost to Dvalishvili in title fights twice over the past 13 months — was impressed by Sandhagen’s ability to avoid damage on the ground against the champion, but also noticed Dvalishvili’s rising confidence on the feet, even hurting Sandhagen and nearly finishing him in Round 2.
O’Malley sees one way to beat Dvalishvili, and it’s a skill, in his eyes, that only he possesses in the bantamweight division.
“To beat Merab, you just have to land that shot,” O’Malley said on his YouTube channel. “You have to be able to f*cking snipe him, and he was getting a little bit more reckless. The more confident he gets in his striking, the more gaps it leaves open to be caught.
“I don’t really see anyone beating him. I do think I’m the only one… I hate to say it, I hate to f*cking say it, I’m the only one that can beat him. Give me my shot at the White House. No, I got to go out and get some wins, but, yeah, I don’t see anyone really beating Merab anytime soon. He needs to be clipped, needs to be knocked out, put to sleep to beat him, and I don’t see anyone, other than myself, being able to do that.”
As far as what could be next for Dvalishvili, O’Malley sees two options: a rematch against a guy Dvalishvili already decisively beat in Petr Yan, or O’Malley’s longtime teammate if he can pick up the biggest win of his career at UFC 321.
“I’m always excited to see Petr fight,” O’Malley said. “We saw Petr-Merab, it was 50-45, wasn’t that exciting. If that was the next fight, I’d watch. Mario [Bautista] vs. Umar [Nurmagomedov] is coming up. If Mario can go out there and finish Umar, or even just win a decisive decision, I think that would be next fight — Mario vs. Merab.”
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