There appears to be no lingering bad blood between bantamweight
standouts Merab
Dvalishvili and Sean
O’Malley.
Advertisement
The two recently crossed paths at the UFC Performance Institute,
where O’Malley praised the reigning champion’s performance in a
successful title defense against Umar
Nurmagomedov at UFC 311
this past January.
“Your last fight was impressive, you looked good,” O’Malley said on
his YouTube channel. “That was a fun fight to watch. That was very
fun.”
Prior to facing Nurmagomedov, Dvalishvili claimed bantamweight gold
with a unanimous decision triumph over O’Malley at UFC
306 this past September. While nothing has been confirmed, UFC
CEO Dana White recently hinted that a rematch between the two could
be in the making.
“They want to fight each other,” White said following UFC
Seattle. “I think people want to see it.”
Dvalishvili also seemed to indicate that a return date was likely
during their conversation.
“I respect you, man, as a fighter,” Dvalishvili said to O’Malley.
“When we’re going to fight, I know you hit hard, and I know you’re
going to change your plan.”
O’Malley has been sidelined since underdoing hip surgery after the
UFC 306 main event. It was an injury that O’Malley admitted also
hindered him during the fight against Dvalishvili.
“I only had one hip last time,” O’Malley said. “I’ve got both hips
now.”
In their first meeting, Dvailishvili landed six of 15 takedown
attempts, while O’Malley seemed largely reluctant to unleash his
own striking due to the onging threat of his opponent’s wrestling.
Dvalishvili joked that he might have a change in plans in a second
fight.
“Now I’m going to use my striking,” Dvalishvili said. “You think
no? You think I’m not? Bro, you see me fight with Umar? I was
striking.”