UFC bantamweight Sean O’Malley has just lately talked about moving up to the featherweight division, and he’s hinted at taking a boxing match. However don’t suppose for a second that the 29-year-old celebrity is trying previous his UFC 306 matchup with Merab Dvalishvili.
“Merab’s a giant drawback,” said O’Malley’s coach, Tim Welch, on the most recent iteration of “UFC 306 Embedded.” “So we educated actually, actually exhausting, and [O’Malley] was very disciplined for this struggle as a result of it’s an enormous problem.”
O’Malley himself then hinted that The Machine has a shot in opposition to him. A reporter at a UFC press convention forward of the Saturday occasion asked the champion about Dvalishvili’s predictable takedown strategy. O’Malley replied, “Him having that model is both going to work for him, or it’s going to get him knocked out.”
In the meantime, Dvalishvili said he’s “completely satisfied, wholesome and prepared” forward of his title shot in opposition to the No. 6 pound-for-pound UFC fighter. Dvalishvili, The No. 1 bantamweight contender, additionally directed a menace at Welch.
“O’Malley, you higher present up,” the Georgian grappler postured. “In case you don’t present up, I’m going to struggle your coach, Tim.”
Dvalishvili, 33, is using a 10-fight profitable streak into the Las Vegas Sphere. He hasn’t misplaced in over six years, and his final three victories have come in opposition to the likes of Jose Aldo, Petr Yan and Henry Cejudo.
Notably, each O’Malley and Dvalishvili have fought Yan throughout the final two years. Dvalishvili beat Yan by unanimous determination in March 2023, whereas O’Malley received through cut up determination in October 2022.
Hypothesis apart, Saturday’s most important occasion is just about assured to be a wild affair. O’Malley must be on the lookout for a knockout early. But when he can’t make that occur, his personal phrases describing Dvalishvili’s possibilities might come again to hang-out him.