‘Little Biased’: Cory Sandhagen Confidently Bets on Sean O’Malley to Beat Merab Dvalishvili

Top bantamweight contender, Cory Sandhagen recently claimed that Sean O’Malley will have a massive advantage over Merab Dvalishvili during their championship fight at the Sphere. In fact, the #2 ranked bantamweight is quite confident that the American will return home victorious against ‘The Machine.’

Sandhagen was asked for his take on the upcoming bantamweight title fight when speaking to Henry Cejudo and Kamaru Usman on the popular ‘Pound 4 Pound’ podcast. To this, the 32-year-old mentioned that since Dvalishvili is not very good at closing the gaps during the early fight, O’Malley can use the space to his advantage. He then went on to put his money on O’Malley, saying,

“I’m going to be rooting for O’Malley because I know that that’s the fight people want to see is me and O’Malley fight… I probably would put my money on O’Malley because I’m a little biased and because I do think that he’s going to win.”

While some might be surprised by the prediction since Dvalishvili is a better wrestler of the two, Sandhagen insisted that Suga’ has the tools to stop the Georgian-American before he can get close to the champion.

In the meantime, O’Malley gave his prediction for Sandhagen’s fight against Umar Nurmagomedov – the champ believes that the 32-year-old will come out on top.

O’Malley puts his weight behind Sandhagen

The bantamweight division might as well get a new #1 contender in August when the UFC bonanza returns to Abu Dhabi. The August 3rd card features the bantamweight war between the undefeated Umar Numragomedov and one-time interim champ, Sandhagen in the main event. The 5 round bout is certain to be a barnburner of an event and O’Malley has dropped in his thoughts on the match-up.

Mentioning the inconsistency of the Dagestani, the champ in an exclusive to MMA Fighting said,

“I’m surprised Cory is such a massive underdog. I think Cory’s one of the most skilled guys in the entire UFC. I wouldn’t be surprised if Cory beat him at all. Yeah [I’m picking Sandhagen]. I think Umar is as good as everyone thinks he is. I just think Cory is better.”

Sean O’Malley doubts Umar Nurmagomedov shows up to face Cory Sandhagen: ‘I’ll be surprised if the fight happens’ https://t.co/eujYVMiguX

— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) July 23, 2024

Moreover, highlighting the previous canceled bout between Sandhagen and Nurmagomedov, O’Malley also claimed that he wouldn’t be surprised if the Russian disappeared on the night given his notoriety for pulling out of fights.