At UFC 311, Merab Dvalishvili proved without a shadow of a doubt that he could take on strikers and wrestlers of the highest caliber and wear them out over 5 rounds. Sean O’Malley is neither. Nor was he a dominant champion with multiple title defenses. So why does he still warrant a title rematch against Merab? Former UFC lightweight Paul Felder cannot figure it out either.
Ahead of UFC: Noche, O’Malley was coming off a win against Marlon Vera and wanted to make a move for Ilia Topuria’s featherweight title. However Dana White intervened and after a year of ignoring Merab, O’Malley begrudgingly defended the bantamweight title at UFC: Noche. He not only lost the fight but Merab was so dominant, it seemed obvious why O’Malley would have rather changed weight classes.
He had since been out of action with hip surgery. But just weeks ahead of Merab’s first title defense against Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311, O’Malley announced his desire for a rematch. Days ahead of the PPV, Dana White teased it too. However, Felder believes O’Malley ought to fight someone else first; preferably Cory Sandhagen since he has already issued a call-out.
“Cory is just sitting around waiting. Make that happen. I agree with Cory that, that fight makes sense, for him (O’Malley) to get a rematch with Merab. I think he needs to fight somebody else and prove himself again.”
He also criticized fighters like O’Malley who reach the peak of the mountain and then just sit there. And then once they fall, they just want to be teleported back into the same position. “It just doesn’t work like that“, he asserted, while also pointing out that the bantamweight division was stacked to the gill with top-tier talent, who were all itching to swing at the champion.
Former middleweight champion Michael Bisping concurred, even though he claimed the rematch would make sense for Merab since O’Malley would be a big-money fight. However, he was quick to course-correct and point out that a number 1 title contender fight was the only thing that made sense.
There’s another interesting point to be made here. Of the top 5 ranked bantamweights in the UFC, only Sandhagen and Deiveson Figueredo haven’t had a fight against the bantamweight champion.
Felder makes Sandhagen’s case
Merab might only have become a champion 5 months ago but he’s also on a 12-fight win streak, which means, he’s fought everyone in the division he was meant to and more. So, unless he fights Fugueredo or Sandhagen, he is looking at a rerun of his greatest hits. As Bisping said, it works for the champion. However, it stalls the division completely.
when Merab used Sean O’Malley’s taunts on him ☠️pic.twitter.com/T9stlXA5jd
— Dovy (@DovySimuMMA) December 28, 2024
Now, Sandhagen was going to be technically next in line until Umar got the better of him at a UFC: Fight Night in August last year. And Figueredo is also coming off of a loss. So both of them have to win their fight for the opportunity to fight for the title. But Figueredo is ranked 5th, while Sandhagan sits one step above him at 4.
And therein lies The Sandman’s advantage. With the champ running out of opponents, Felder advocated for Sandhagen to get his day in the sun.
“So, if Cory goes and beats Sean, okay, now we have got fresh blood. It makes sense. He becomes #1 contender. 100%. Make that fight happen. “
However, will O’Malley agree to a #1 contender fight? Will White agree to demote O’Malley when there’s money to be made from a rematch with Merab?
