- Merab Dvalishvili insists that he is going to be Sean O’Malley’s next opponent
- “The Machine” thinks every champions should focus on their respective divisions
Merab Dvalishvili is almost 100% sure that he would be Sean O’Malley’s next title challenger.
Dana told Merab so
Speaking to TMZ Sports, “The Machine” opened up about how bad he wanted to fight O’Malley. More importantly, Dvalisvili revealed that the UFC boss Dana White himself already confirmed that he is next in line.
“I have so much respect for Sean as a fighter. He’s a great fighter. I look at him as a big challenge from 2018, I wanted to fight him because I see a big challenge. He’s tall, he’s quick, he’s got knockout power. Good footwork. He’s gonna be hard challenge fight for me and I’m ready for this challenge and I don’t take this fight as an easy fight,” Dvalishvili said.
“I did see Dana for a little bit. I just said hi, and I believe he told me, ‘You are next.’ That’s what he told me… We all know I’m next. I’m very confident I’m gonna fight Sean. It’s so stupid from Sean that he’s not mentioning my name. Especially because this fight is going to happen, and he could make it big. I just don’t want to like chase him or disrespect him you know I have a big respect uh for the champion,” he added.
The champs should respect the rankings and contenders
Dvalishvili is well aware that O’Malley is not highly interested in facing him. Instead, “Sugar” got his sights on a potential move to featherweight. For “The Machine,” every champions should respect the UFC and how it ranks the fighters and determine the rightful title contenders.
“That is really really frustrating like how everybody wants to change division or call easy fights,” Dvalishvili said. “This is UFC or this is like something else like you know this is UFC and we should give respect for UFC. We have a rankings, we have winning streak, we have contenders here and we should fight for the best guys.”
The UFC has yet to make an official announcement about O’Malley’s next fight. However, White and featherweight champion Ilia Topuria suggest that “Sugar” defend his title in his division again before moving up.
Watch Merab’s full interview below:
