Since the April Fool’s Day announcement that a rematch between bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili and former titleholder Sean O’Malley would headline the UFC 316 fight card, many have questioned whether O’Malley deserves it.
O’Malley lost the title to Dvalishvili at UFC 306 in September and has been sidelined since the loss recovering from hip surgery. Dvalishvili successfully defend the title at UFC 311 in January, defeating Umar Nurmagomedov via decision.
While critics of the fight don’t think “Suga” deserves an immediate rematch, Dvalishvili disagrees.
“I think even lots of people criticize O’Malley getting a rematch. I think he deserves it. And I want to find out too. He made lots of excuses after the fight,” Dvalishvili said during an appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show.
“Now he did surgery, and I know he’ll make adjustments and he’ll change game plan. It’s going to be a totally different fight. Like O’Malley said, ‘If you don’t like it, don’t watch it.'”
Dvalishvili’s win over O’Malley was by unanimous decision but he only won a single round more than O’Malley on two of the judges’ scorecards. O’Malley estimates he’ll be 70% better in the rematch after a successful surgery has given him the ability to properly prepare.
“It’s going to be a good fight because I’m going to make adjustments too because I know O’Malley will come with a different game plan,” said Dvalishvili. “I know he’s going to attack me from the beginning with body kicks and striking. And I want to test my striking too.
“When I was fighting for the title the first time, I was more smart, more game. This time I’m the champion and I will go for it. It’s going to be a great fight.”
The rematch goes down on June 7th at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
