If Sean O’Malley hopes to fare better against Merab Dvalishvili the second time around, he’s gonna have to make one major change to his fight game.
In September, ‘The Machine’ delivered an absolutely dominant performance against O’Malley to capture the UFC bantamweight championship. This Saturday night, they’ll run it back when the promotion heads back to Newark, New Jersey, for a loaded UFC 316 card inside the Prudential Center.
Considering how easy it was for Dvalishvili to take the title from O’Malley last year, it should come as no surprise that ‘The Machine’ is a sizeable favorite in the rematch, with sportsbooks favoring him 3-to-1 to retain his title and go two-up on ‘Sugar.’
Offering his take on their midly-anticipated sequel, former UFC and ONE world champion Demetrious Johnson thinks O’Malley has to make one major improvement if he hopes to even things up against Dvalishvili.
And it’s pretty obvious what that one thing is.
“The biggest thing Sean has to do is fight Merab in the wrestling and clinch exchanges,” Johnson said on his YouTube channel. “Make sure that when they grapple, he comes out better. If he can’t, Merab can do the exact same thing again. O’Malley’s biggest success in the first fight was to the body, but to win, he’ll need to make it a different kind of fight.”
Sean O’Malley vows to finish Merab Dvalishvili in rematch
Ahead of UFC 316, O’Malley was critical of Dvalishvili’s grapple-heavy style and vowed to finish the Georgian in spectacular fashion.
“It’s no secret, it’s striker vs. wrestler, it’s finisher vs. decisioner. His game plan is to get ahold of me and hold me. My goal is to out there and put his lights out,” O’Malley said on UFC Countdown. “This fight, he said I’m going to prove how crazy I am, I am going to box with him. If that’s his game plan, that would be stupid.
“I know I can put Merab’s lights out. UFC 316, I am going to finish Merab, the fact that he beat me and I go out and finish him makes it that much sweeter.”
Sean O’Malley to win by KO/TKO is currently sitting at +500 on DraftKings.
