Sean
O’Malley did everything he could to prepare for the rematch
with Merab
Dvalishvili.
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He underwent surgery to repair his ailing hip, quit smoking
marijuana, disconnected from social media and in general adopted an
more focused mindset. Ultimately, it wasn’t enough. While “Suga”
looked improved in the early going, Dvalishvili gradually asserted
himself en route to a third-round submission victory in the
UFC
316 headliner.
A few days removed from that defeat, O’Malley could do little more
than tip his cap to his Georgian rival.
“He felt strong last time but this time he felt just freakishly
strong,” O’Malley said on his YouTube channel. “He’s the greatest
bantamweight of all time.”
The loss likely removes O’Malley from the title picture for the
foreseeable future — especially for as long as Dvalishvili reigns
atop the division. Nonetheless, the 30-year-old MMA Lab product
seems to be at peace with his situation. Much of that has to do
with his life outside the Octagon.
“So for me to be able to go through something like that and the
next Sunday rolls around, Monday rolls around, I don’t feel sad at
all,” O’Malley said. “I still feel very happy. I feel a little
disappointed in the outcome. I feel like I’m frustrated but there’s
no sadness inside of me.
“I’m holding my 14-day-old, Elena’s sleeping on my chest, [my wife]
Dani’s right next to me, I’ll close my eyes and I’ll picture
things: When he locked up the guillotine, I could have done
something, could have done this, could have done that, but there’s
nothing I can do about it now. Kind of onto the next thought, I’m
not sitting in that f—king thought just unravel and go down a
negative hole. I still feel very good.”
Looking ahead, O’Malley is intrigued by the possibility of a
Dvalishvili rematch with Umar
Nurmagomedov. “The Machine” successfully defended the 135-pound
strap with a unanimous decision victory over Nurmagomedov at UFC
311 this past January.
„I feel like the Umar fight was very interesting,“ O’Malley said. „If Umar really broke his hand in the first round. I remember
watching that first round and was like, ‚Oh, f—k, Umar is doing
good.‘ But also that’s just how good Merab is. I’m excited to see
how that plays out, too.“