Merab Dvalishvili Confident Sean O’Malley Won’t Fight Ilia Topuria Next

Merab Dvalishvili sounds confident that Sean O'Malley won’t get a double-champ bid before fighting him.

Dvalishvili extended his winning streak to 10 with a dominant decision win over former two-division champion Henry Cejudo at UFC 298 last month. “The Machine” was logically expected to be the opponent for Sean O’Malley’s first title defense before “Sugar” called out Marlon Vera.

O’Malley put on a striking clinic to defend his strap against “Chito” via unanimous decision at UFC 299 on March 9, avenging the lone professional loss of his career. Awaiting his long-deserved title shot next, Dvalishvili, who was sitting cage side, expected O’Malley to call him out. However, “The Machine” was “mad” to hear O’Malley call out featherweight champion Ilia Topuria instead.

While O’Malley is plotting a double-champ bid against Topuria, “El Matador” has dismissed the callout until “Sugar” defends his strap against Dvalishvili. “The Machine” believes the UFC won’t let O’Malley move up before he gets his long overdue title shot.

“I was very surprised,” Dvalishvili told MMA Junkie. “Like, ‘What [is] this guy doing?’ Like just either be quiet or don’t call somebody who’s not gonna fight you. This fight’s not gonna happen. Ilia is a great champion but he just [won] his belt. And the UFC [is] not gonna let this fight happen because… Sean, it’s not like he cleaned [out the] division or something. I was supposed to fight him for this [UFC 299] fight, but he called [out the] No. 6 guy [Marlon Vera]. Yes, we all understand, some people want to see this, UFC support this. But now let’s move on, let’s fight me. Yeah of course I was very surprised, I was mad actually.”

Dvalishvili and O’Malley also had a rather awkward run-in backstage after UFC 299. “Sugar” later claimed to have mistaken Dvalishvili for a fan, likely taking a dig at the Georgian’s stardom. Dvalishvili detailed what exactly transpired, which according to him wasn’t very champion-esque of O’Malley.

“I said congratulations and he kind of ignored me again,” Dvalishvili said. “He’s like, ‘Thank you [shrugs]’. He don’t even shake my hand. I said, ‘Bro, you should mention my name.’ And then he said, ‘Oh s—t, I don’t even know who he was.’ I mean, I give respect to all the champions, and I did give him respect but that’s not [a] champion’s move. That’s not what real man should do.”

Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O'Malley met up after #UFC299 👀 pic.twitter.com/N9AnrUnwzQ

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) March 10, 2024