UFC 299 witnessed multiple brutal matches! In the main event, we witnessed the masterclass of Sean O’Malley against Marlon Vera. ‘Suga’ defended his bantamweight title like a star. After the bout, O’Malley took center stage to issue a callout to featherweight champ, Ilia Topuria which irked the bantamweight contender Merab Dvalishvili who was in the cage side. O’Malley’s called out Dana White to book him a ticket to Spain for a match against Topuria.
Merab Dvalishvili was ͏enraged by O’Malley’s statement regarding Topuria. Backstage, ‘The Machine’ co͏nfron͏ted͏ ‘Suga’ and ͏expressed that O’Malley should have mentioned him instead of Topuria.͏ O’Malley ridiculed hi͏m in respon͏se. Merab Dvalishvili is the number-one contender for the bantamweight title and is on a 10-fight winning streak. His last match against Henry Cejudo was a statement of his hunger towards the ‘135’ lbs gold but O’Malley seems to be not in a mood to give him a chance soon.
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Dvalishvili in his frustration took to his social media to issue a callout to Sean O’Malley for a fight in 2024 but seems like ‘Suga’ has different plans for the Georgian. In his response to Dvalishvili, ‘Suga’ took to his social media handle to state that he will fight Dvalishvili in 2025 “I want Marab. 2025 will be legendary”. This statement by O’Malley seems to have enraged ‘Machine,’ especially when his contender misspelled his name!
Dvalishvili stated that he had been waiting for his shot and reminded O’Malley of who he was: ” I have been waiting for this callout for 7 years. But who is Marab? Dude review my name lessons I gave Henry. MERAB! And guess you need another year to prepare for the Machine.” Dvalishvili seems to be angry with O’Malley for delaying his title shot but he is not the only one who is concerned about the delayed matches. The UFC community is angry with it as well.
Fans want the Sean O’Malley and the UFC champions to be more active
There has been a noticeable ͏trend in the UFC where champions in every division are fighting on͏ly once or twice a year. This is quite unusual compared to previous ch͏ampio͏ns who were much more ͏active within their divisions. This ͏trend has not only sparked͏ outrage within the MMA ͏community but has also left the title contenders frustrated. And Sean O’Malley’s recent statement has been noticed by the MMA community.
Starting off, a fan reminded Sean O’Malley that they are still in 2024.
“2025? We’re in March champ”
‘Suga’ was badly injured after his fight against ‘Chito’ and it suspended from the UFC till further medical clearance. A fan took this information and rendered it into a sarcastic tone.
“Bro needs 9 months to recover”
Alexander Volkanovski(Former featherweight champion), Israel Adesanya(Former middleweight champion and, Kamaru Usman(Former welterweight champion) were the most active fighters in the UFC’s recent history and their title reign was equally impressive. The new champions are not as active as them and this fact is highlighted by a fan.
“I miss Usman, Volk and Izzy as Champs”
Furthermore, UFC is in a dilemma as most of the champions of their promotion take too much time to recover and this might put the organization in the doldrums.
“Ngl sport is cooked if all champs gonna act like this”
“UFC is so cooked if champs are only fighting once a year”
Moreover, a fan stated that O’Malley was trolling Dvalishvili
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“U guys do realize Sean’s trolling right???”
Last but not least, a fan raised real concerns about the activity of champions.
“The era of activity is over lol”
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From the reactions of the fans, they are frustrated to see increasingly less activity from their favorite champions. Nonetheless, what is your opinion on O’Malley’s statements? State your thoughts in the comments below;