The UFC bantamweight division is simmering with anticipation right now! Merab Dvalishvili might be sitting on the throne at the moment but on the other side, Umar Nurmagomedov is waiting to prove his grit as he boasts a stellar undefeated record. However, Dvalishvili wants to take time off after his win against Sean O’Malley, and ‘Young Eagle’ cannot fight in February or March because of the holy month of Ramadan. Now the question is, if Umar does not fight Dvalishvili first, who will it be?

The answer is speculated to be Chinese ace Song Yadong who has 21 wins with Urijah Faber shedding more light on the matter recently.  Faber spoke to Helen Yee about this and said, “We don’t have a date for that yet I don’t think December 14th. Is the date that we had talked about? I think January is what we’re looking at but we like that fight you know. I think both Umar and Song are guys that people don’t wanna fight you know so, they are both willing to step up, so I think that’s a good fight.”

There are rumors that Nurmagomedov may now face Yadong in January instead of December which will still fulfill ‘Young Eagle’s’wish of competing before Ramadan. Dwalishvili has replied to these speculations of the Dagestani’s new matchup on ProsPick MMA. He said that this matchup could potentially determine the next title challenger. He explained, “It’s a very interesting fight and good for both of them… Umar wanted to fight in December, and he kept trash-talking on the internet; he was calling me in December and January. Bro, I just won the title fight I guess you don’t want to wait.”

The reigning champion talked about his path and said, “Now we will see who’s going to fight for the belt: either the winner of this fight, or maybe the winner of [Deiveson] Figueiredo and [Petr] Yan, or maybe a rematch against [Sean] O’Malley.” Dvalishvili’s victory over Sean O’Malley was met with skepticism from “Suga,” who believed he had performed well despite the loss. To this, ‘The Machine’ called out the Montana native for a rematch on multiple occasions on social media. It will be interesting to see what Dana White decides to do.

However, O’Malley’s recent hip surgery means he won’t be able to fight until June, potentially delaying a rematch. Since Umar is fighting in January as per the rumors, Dvalishvili’s wish to fight O’Malley might come true even though now the Dagestani is insulting ‘Suga’. But why?

Sean O’Malley is dissed by Umar Nurmagomedov over his UFC 306 performance.

Umar Nurmagomedov was critical of Sean O’Malley’s performance at UFC 306, in which he dropped the bantamweight gold to Merab Dvalishvili. This stance by the Dagestani is apt as O’Malley is known to show stern reluctance to acknowledge his losses even when he goes down quite clearly.

In his latest defeat, ‘Suga’ claimed that he won three of the five rounds against Dvalishvili and attributed other factors to his defeat. This echoes a similar incident in 2020 when he considered himself undefeated after losing to Marlon Vera, despite being finished from the top position after sustaining a leg injury.

Highlighting this, Umar stepped in for a comment and called out the Montana native. Nurmagomedov spoke to Submission Radio and said, “He’s a bum, brother. He’s a bum. He didn’t do what he had to. He was running. If you’re a champion, you can’t enter the cage and fight like that. He left the fight without even getting tired—he left the cage fresh. What are you doing, man? You need to go all out and do everything you can to defend your title, but instead, you were running, scared, and Merab played with you.”

The undefeated Dagestani from ‘Team Khabib’ said that the new champ ‘toyed’ with O’Malley so Umar does not see a rematch happening even if ‘Suga’ wants one. With Umar scheduled to fight Song Yadong next, do you think Dvalishvili will face his old foe in Sean O’Malley or someone entirely new? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.