The UFC’s top bantamweight fighter, Merab Dvalishvili, has repeatedly stated that he does not want to cross paths with former bantamweight champion in the octagon, Aljamain Sterling, out of friendship. According to him, friendship comes first over everything. But his UFC 306 rival Sean O’Malley just recently questioned the loyalty the two friends have towards one another.

Taking to his Twitter, Suga shared the theory that Sterling wants him to beat his teammate Dvalishvili, and Merab was glad of the fact that O’Malley took the title from Aljo. However, it seems like the words have reached the ears of the Funk Master, as Sterling has shared his reply on social media.

Replying to a Twitter user who informed the former bantamweight champion about O’Malley’s theory, Sterling replied that the reason Suga is talking trash is because he never had friends and had a similar experience in his life. The reason he cannot relate to what Dvalishvili and Sterling share. He wrote, “Ppl tend to trash what they don’t have or never experienced.”

Sterling and O’Malley have had an intense rivalry. One that’s spilling over to the Georgian’s side because of his upcoming fight with the bantamweight champion. However, all Suga would be focused on right now would be repeat his victory against Dvalishvili the same way he did against Sterling at UFC 292, where Funk Master fell by KO in the second round.

During the Funk Master’s reign, he never had a one-on-one against the Georgian despite being in the same division. Dvalishvili was truly a contender for the belt; however, he refused to fight his MMA best friend. It was a decision that shocked many and one that drew the ire of UFC boss, Dana White.

Back when Dana White criticized the bond between Sterling and Dvalishvili

As we mentioned before, the two UFC bantamweights are truly great friends. As a result, they have often refused to go one-on-one against each other, despite Sterling holding the belt for a long time. This was something that truly made Dana White angry. According to the president of the UFC, a fighter has to put his ambitions to fight above anything in the company.

In a 2023 press conference, he said, “Everybody in this room and everybody that watches this video knows how I feel about this sh*t. Yeah, I hate it, and if that’s—why did you even get into this sport if that’s your mentality in the way that you think? ‘ I don’t even want the title. I don’t even want the championship. We’re friends; we’re this, we’re that.” 

He further added, “This is not—you could be friends with everybody in this business. There’s a lot of nice people in this business. A lot of good people. This is not about friendship. This is about finding out who the best in the world is. And if you don’t want to find out who the best in the world is, this is not the place for you. You should be somewhere else. There’s plenty of places to fight where they don’t give a sh*t what you do. Doesn’t work here.” Well, it sure looks like White has strong feelings about the whole friendship situation here. But what do you think? Should Sterling and Dvalishvili share the Octagon in the future? Let us know in the comments.