Merab Dvalishvili has become the official Bantamweight champion after defeating Sean O’Malley who has been reigning in this category for quite some time. From retaliating to Tim Welch giving him trash talks, to tackling ‘Sugar’s’ striking, ‘The Machine’ faced it all.

Since O’Malley has lost, he needs to fight two or one more athletes to get a title shot. Now he is busy predicting what will happen to the new champ and he has a clear favourite.

According to MMA Orbit ‘Suga’ spoke about this in his latest podcast on Youtube. He said, “Sean O’Malley has told @adinross, that he believes Umar Nurmagomedov will beat Merab Dvalishvili if they fight next.”

Poll of the day

Poll 1 of 5

Who do you think will dominate the UFC bantamweight division next?

Sean O'Malley

Merab Dvalishvili

Umar Nurmagomedov

Other

Is Rachel Zegler's behavior to blame for the Snow White movie's failure?

Yes, she hurt the film

No, it's not her fault

Partially, but there are other factors

I haven't seen the movie

We Want to Know
You Better!

Participate in our 5 min
survey & Win $50 gift card

Take The Survey

Is Khabib Nurmagomedov's strict discipline on Abubakar justified?

Yes, it's necessary for success

No, it's too extreme

It's a family matter

Not sure

Will Michael Chandler's explosive style be too much for Paddy Pimblett at UFC 314?

Yes, Chandler will knock him out

No, Pimblett will withstand the pressure

It will be a close fight

Not sure

Who should Dustin Poirier face in his final fight?

Max Holloway for a trilogy

Justin Gaethje for a fan-favorite spectacle

Ilia Topuria for a fresh challenge

Someone else entirely

Want to dive deeper?

Here are the articles that inspired recent polls.

AD

O’Malley not only lost this match but it seems like he lost his zeal to fight at MMA as well. After UFC 306 concluded he apparently put his retirement plans to the motion. In a recent interview, ‘Suga’ revealed his plans to retire from the Octagon in one year. However he is not going to give up before taking another short at the title.

He said, “I’ll maybe fight till very nine months, ten months, maybe a year. Like, it’s gonna be a while. People are gonna have to watch the UFC without the Suga show for a little bit. Now maybe that they’ll realize, ‘F*ck! Yeah, it was fun.”

On top of that he is now vouching for Umar who has already been reprimanded by Dvaliahvili for getting a title shot before fighters like Deiveson Figueiredo. Yet the Dagestani fighter decided to give ‘The Machine’ a reality check.

Merab Dvalishvili gets a harsh truth from Umar Nurmagomedov

Khabib’s cousin is unbeaten till now and might get a title shot soon against Merab Dvalishvili. However the latter feels he should fight some more contenders before getting this shot since others have had to work harder to reach this. ‘The Machine’ rather wants Deiveson Figueiredo to get the chance at the title shot first.He said, “Umar, he only beat Cory Sandhagen from top-15. Only one guy he beat from top-15. Why does he deserve to fight for the belt?”

However Khabib’s cousin was not fazed by this at all and he even attended UFC 306 to see his opponent win. Even then, we had a subtle smile on his face and looked confident. When Joe Rogan asked the new champion about what he felt on fighting Umar, Dvalishvili gave a cryptic answer and did not really reply, whether he actually wanted to fight him or not.

Now the Dagestani replied, and posted on X taking a dig at Dvalishvili’s friend Ilia Topuria. He wrote, “When Merab’s friend, Topuria fought for the title, after 6 consecutive wins, and beating only one top 5 ranked opponent Josh Emmet, I don’t remember that Merab was desperately protesting against such ‘unfairness’.”

So Umar seems to be ready for the fight and ‘Suga’ is fully supporting him. Do you think Dvalishvili will be able to defend his title?