Following Merab Dvalishvili’s domination of Sean O’Malley at UFC 306, ‘Suga’ rewatched the fight a few days later and went on to claim that he in fact won three of the five rounds, declaring that he is still the champion.
Although Sean O’Malley‘s claim was likely done in jest, he may have been attempting to get into the head of Merab Dvalishvili to the point that ‘The Machine’ would call for a fight against him next instead of fighting Umar Nurmagomedov.
Merab Dvalishvili offers Sean O’Malley an immediate title rematch at UFC 309
While the Georgian didn’t seem too keen on making his first title defense against the undefeated Russian, ‘Suga’s’ mind games may have played into his favor as Dvalishvili took to social media this past Thursday, offering the 29-year-old a rematch.
Despite it largely being out of Dvalishvili’s hands who he defends the title against, if Nurmagomedov was to, unfortunately, pick up an injury, O’Malley may have laid the foundations for a potential rematch.
“I hear O’Malley thinks he won the fight and is looking for a rematch. If he wants it, he can have it. Let’s do it on November 16th at the Garden and then I’ll still defend the title against whoever the UFC wants me to fight next. What do you think? @SugaSeanMMA,” Dvalishvili stated on X.
Merab’s playful offer will of course be dismissed by the UFC, and O’Malley revealed after his loss that he requires surgery on a torn labrum and so will likely be out of action until mid-next year.
UFC 309 is set to be headlined by heavyweight champion, Jon Jones, as he finally defends his belt against the returning Stipe Miocic.
Umar Nurmagomedov likely the next challenger following recent announcement
Although Nurmagomedov is considered a shoo-in by many to be the next title challenger, it was unclear whether the UFC would give the surging Deiveson Figueiredo the next title shot instead considering his streak at 135lbs.
Despite that, the promotion recently announced that ‘Deus da Guerra’ will fight the former champion, Petr Yan next, with the two scheduled to fight in a five-round main event in the UFC’s return to Macau.
That likely secures the 28-year-old Russian as the next in line, with O’Malley likely to fight either Cory Sandhagen or Henry Cejudo, with them both having called for fights against ‘Suga’.