Sean O’Malley was a little surprised to see Merab Dvalishvili booked to fight Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311.
Bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili (18-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC) is set to defend his title against the undefeated Umar Nurmagomedov (18-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) in the co-main event on January 18. This event will be broadcast on ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN, and ESPN+ from the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California.
Following Dvalishvili’s unanimous decision victory over O’Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) at UFC 306 in September, Dvalishvili downplayed Nurmagomedov’s status as the number one contender. He even considered granting O’Malley a rematch, which is why O’Malley was taken aback when the Nurmagomedov fight was scheduled for UFC 311.
“That’s next month,” remarked O’Malley during his “TimboSugaShow” podcast, referring to the upcoming Dvalishvili vs. Nurmagomedov bout. He commented on the short notice, noting that there are just 30 days until the fight and two title bouts have been announced, something that might have been in the pipeline for a while.
O’Malley expressed his surprise that the Merab vs. Umar fight was kept under wraps for so long. Nurmagomedov was initially slated to fight in December, while Dvalishvili had shown interest in fighting in March. O’Malley himself had even considered a potential fight with Dvalishvili in April, all these plans were swirling in his mind.
O’Malley believes that a fight against Nurmagomedov could be a massive event, but he also yearns to avenge his loss to Dvalishvili. He feels that the outcome was much closer than many believe.
“I want Merab to win because I want that one back,” O’Malley admitted. “I want the rematch. I want that one back. That’s what I want. But if Umar wins, that’s a big fight, too.”
For more details on the UFC 311 card, you can visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for full coverage.
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