As ‘Suga’ Sean O’Malley readies himself to defend the UFC bantamweight title in a few moments against Merab Dvalishvili, his fans can’t help but be concerned. Dvalishvili is widely considered to be his worst match-up yet, owing to the Georgian’s wrestling-heavy game. But how much does that mean when O’Malley has been TKOed by a Striker in the UFC in Round 1?
Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera was coming off of a loss to Song Yadong, a controversial decision loss, sure, for a loss all the same. He was the betting man’s underdog in the fight against ‘Suga’ at UFC 252. Unfortunately, nobody told him that and he calf kicked his way into the fight the moment Bruce Buffer yelled “It’s time”.
These low calf kicks, seriously badgered O’Malley’s perennial nerve, which limited his ability to strike with his usual efficiency. If that wasn’t bad enough, it also drastically caged his ability to move, let alone dance around in the octagon.
The Ecuadorian fighter would then corner O’Malley, and as the latter tried to find create an angle to throw some shots at him, fate would just remind him that it was not his day.
O’Malley collapsed and found his face in the way of a barrage of elbows and with just 4 and a half minutes into the fight, the referee would ring the bell and put ‘Suga’ out of his misery.
Credits: Imago
Although ‘Suga’ would later go on to call it a fluke and manage to avenge the loss a few months later, it still remains a giant black spot on his otherwise perfect record.
That’s okay though. His opponent from today won’t care. After all, he started his own UFC career with two straight losses.
Merab Dvalishvili’s royal comeback
When Dvalishvili joined the UFC years ago in 2017, there wasn’t a lot of fan fare around him, unlike some of his counterparts in the roster.
The MMA community was still swept up in the Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov feud and pretty much everyone was so blinded by the Irishman’s light that nobody cared when a random 5’5 Georgian lost by decision to Frankie Saenz or when he tapped out to Ricky Simon 4 months later in April 2018.
And they were right to not care. Because it didn’t matter how he started. That submission loss in 2018 was Dvalishvili’s last loss in the UFC. In 6 years since then, he’s fought 10 times, he’s won 10 times. And sure, nine of them have been through judges’ decision, but that’s not on him. He doesn’t make the rules.
The Georgian found his niche with his wrestling, and he’s used it to perfection till now. He walks into the octagon, does what he does clinically, occasionally lifts up Olympic gold medalists on his shoulders for fun, and walks around the octagon, but he gets those wins.
And that’s what O’Malley should be worried about at UFC Noche. Nothing Merab Dvalishvili does is special. The problem for O’Malley is he doesn’t need to.
