Ahead of UFC 306, Sean O’Malley has got his sights set on a very specific target—Merab Dvalishvili’s left eye. After Merab revealed he suffered a nasty cut above his eye during training camp, Dana White called him an idiot claiming Merab had basically handed O’Malley a bullseye to aim for. And it seems “Suga” Sean agrees.
The bantamweight champion recently sat down for an interview with Kevin Iole. During their conversation, Iole asked O’Malley what he made of Merab sharing the cut on Instagram and if he will be aiming for it during the fight.
The 29-year-old simply talked about his intentions to open that cut up, whether its healed or not. He added:
“I am not sure how much it can heal, I have never really had any bad cuts so I am not sure. That is the left side of his face and this right hand does not miss. I will probably hit that nose before I hit that cut. That nose takes up 85% of his face.”
View this post on Instagram
‘Suga’ went on to add that it was not the best decision from Merab to hand over such information to his opponent. Especially when O’Malley is such a good striker.
In the past we have seen multiple instances where cuts in training were opened up with the mere slightest of touches during the fight. Merab can not afford to have a compromised vision when he is taking on a sharp shooter such as O’Malley.
However, Merab and his team feel that they have the perfect game plan ready to take advantage of O’Malley’s weaknesses.
Merab’s coach pinpoints O’Malley’s weaknesses
During a recent interview, Merab’s coach John Wood shed light on how they are preparing for O’Malley and why his camp not mimic the same.
He said that O’Malley is a world class striker but there are a lot of them out there. So, in order to emulate O’Malley, Merab’s camp has brought in some elite strikers. Merab has been training with these tall word class strikers throughout his camp to prepare for the bantamweight title.
Pressure wrestlers, however are rare to find, rarer even when one filters out looking for someone of Merab’s style and potential.
So, Wood believes that there is no one who can replicate the pressure, wrestling and grappling that Merab possesses. Therefore, O’Malley can not train for Merab’s specifically by bringing people in, which he feels will be a major catalyst in Merab securing a win at UFC 306.
