Sean O’Malley is perhaps the best striker in the UFC. With his excellent distance management, nimble footwork, sharp counters, and almost unbelievable accuracy and speed, the reigning bantamweight champ might already be in the same league as Anderson Silva, Conor McGregor, and Israel Adesanya.

However, like all strikers, the question of how he will do against a world-class wrestler is, of course, being raised. Well, you don’t have to wait for long as O’Malley is set to face the bantamweight division’s best current wrestler Merab Dvalishvili on UFC 306 at the iconic Sphere.

However, there is a small problem that might disrupt Dana White’s $20M investment, and the problem is called ‘The Machine’. The reason you ask? Well, with not even a month left for the bout, Merab posted a picture of himself online showing off an eye injury, which can turn out to be dangerous if the wound opened mid-fight. However, O’Malley has a solution. Keep reading to find out how ‘Suga’ plans on dominating the Georgian.

Sean O’Malley lays bare his UFC 306 plans

Sean O’Malley won his title off of Aljamain Sterling last year with a spectacularly timed counter left, in another clear show of how elite his striking truly is. ‘Aljo’, of course, was a wrestler himself, and did test ‘Suga’s ground game. However, the champ is sure that wouldn’t be the case with Dvalishvili.

“I don’t think he’s going to test my wrestling. I don’t think he’s going to be able to, like Aljo, I guess you could say tested my wrestling a little bit, had me up against the fence twice, didn’t take me down once,” O’Malley told ‘ESPN MMA’ in an interview.

The reason ‘Suga’ is confident Dvalishvili won’t be a wrestling threat. O’Malley is sure he will be able to stop ‘The Machine’ and stop him so quickly that Dvalishvili won’t even get the chance to try and take him down.

“I felt like that was a huge win to answer questions about wrestling. ‘Chito’ didn’t even try to take me down once, so that was like, you know, nothing… I don’t think Merabs going to be the one to test my wrestling to be honest. I truly believe I’m going to put his lights out very early,” he added. O’Malley also addressed the subject of his and Conor McGregor’s recent feud in the interview, making some eyebrow-raising claims about why he thinks ‘Mac’ has taken shots at him recently.

‘Suga’ thinks Conor McGregor is “jealous” at his rise

O’Malley, of course, has said time and again that he wants to be the next Conor McGregor. However, there is one particular thing that he hopes not to emulate ‘Mac’ is jealousy and bitterness.

In the same interview, the bantamweight champ felt that McGregor, who has been on a sharp decline himself, has been jealous of his rise, which has led the Irishman to curse out the champ online a lot of times.

“I want to do what Conor did. I’m 29, defended the belt, something he’s never done… And I just feel pure jealousy from him, it’s really weird. I hope once I’m a little bit older and I see someone else coming up, that I’m excited for them, you know, happy for them, almost maybe a mentor towards them rather than just jealous and bitter,” O’Malley admitted.

O’Malley almost feels bad that McGregor, the biggest superstar in the sport, has been reduced to cursing him out online out of envy. In fact, the American admitted that he hoped if he was ever in ‘Mac’s position and saw the next superstar rise, he would be magnanimous enough to not only be happy and supportive of them but also maybe guide them in their career. The feud between the two may go on for a very long time, however, ‘Suga’ has got bigger things to worry about for now.

How do you think the match would pan out for O’Malley? Let us know in the comments below.