“Overpromised” and “underdelivered” were the two words that Sean O’Malley used to describe his UFC 306 performance. ‘Suga’ isn’t proud of how he fared against ‘The Machine’ Merab Dvalishvili at the one-and-done Sphere event. But it seems there was a reason why O’Malley couldn’t find his footing the entire fight because he revealed to have been battling a fear he had while fighting the Georgian star inside the Octagon.

Sean O’Malley is a world-class striker and Merab Dvalishvili and his whole team, including his teammate and former champion Aljamain Sterling, knew that fact. However, people weren’t expecting the kind of one-sided fight they got to see. O’Malley couldn’t execute his game plan well and as per his recent revelation, it was because he didn’t want to end up like Henry Cejudo.

Sean O’Malley was worried about getting manhandled like Henry Cejudo

Before his fight against Sean O’Malley, Merab Dvalishvili easily dispatched Henry Cejudo and manhandled him, earning a unanimous decision, which is the same thing that happened against ‘Suga’. However, ‘The Machine’ couldn’t quite get hold of the former champion the way he did against ‘Triple C’, and O’Malley claims that’s because he tried to avoid that the whole fight to avoid embarrassment.

“A lot of the time I was up against the cage, I was sitting [and thinking] I didn’t want him to pick me up. Remember when he picked up Henry? I was like, ‘That can’t happen. I cannot let him pick me up,'” Sean O’Malley stated on his YouTube podcast. On the other hand, he’d also reflect on what went wrong last weekend, realizing that he should have tried a bit harder to avoid Merab Dvalishvili from getting closer.

“In hindsight, I should have fought hands better, harder… and got the f— away and disengaged… my cardio felt good but sometimes in the middle of those rounds, I should have fought to get up and get away harder than I did,” Sean O’Malley added.

However, Sean O’Malley took nothing away from Merab Dvalishvili, acknowledging and realizing why he’s called ‘The Machine’, which is due to his relentless pace. But guess what? He believes the newly crowned champion shouldn’t get comfortable because what he did to ‘Suga’ could happen to him if he takes on Umar Nurmagomedov.

‘Suga’ warns Merab Dvalishvili about Umar Nurmagomedov

When Cory Sandhagen agreed to fight Umar Nurmagomedov, Sean O’Malley claimed that it wasn’t a smart decision, calling Khabib Nurmagomedov‘s cousin “the best guy.” ‘Suga’ still believes that Umar is as dangerous as they come because as per recent reports, O’Malley shared a prediction when he met Kick streamer Adin Ross. The former champion strongly believes that the 18-0 Dagestan native would easily make quick work of the newly crowned 135-pound king, Merab Dvalishvili.

Umar Nurmagomedov has already sent a message to Merab Dvalishvili after his UFC 306, with his manager, Ali Abdelaziz, confirming that Khabib’s cousin is indeed next in line for a title shot. As for Sean O’Malley, he has decided to get out of the limelight for some time and come back stronger. Do you think he’ll get the match then?

While it has been unfortunate for Sean O’Malley to have lost the belt, it still is an exciting time for the fans as the bantamweight division has some new credible contenders on the rise. Regardless, let us know what you have to say about ‘Suga’ trying to avoid getting embarrassed by Merab Dvalishvili.