Many feel that Merab Dvalishvili exposed Sean O’Malley at their UFC 306 clash. After all, The Georgian fighter’s world-class wrestling was too good and too stifling for the former champ to work his magic on the feet. In fact, ‘The Machine’ beat ‘Suga’ so comprehensively that there was no chance of an immediate rematch.

Now the Georgian champ is set to fight Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311 on January 18. The Dagestani is a stylistic challenge for Dvalishvili. The #2 ranked bantamweight, of course, comes from the same stable as Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev, which means that his grappling skills are top-notch. In addition, Umar is a remarkably dynamic and skilled striker. If Merab with his grappling was a nightmare for ‘Suga’, Umar’s proficiency on the feet makes him an even worse matchup for the rainbow-haired sniper.

But being the warrior that he is, ‘Suga’ is undeterred by the challenge. In fact, the former champ wants all the smoke and has demanded to fight the winner of Dvalishvili-Nurmagomedov. Fans, of course, think that ‘Suga’ needs to work on his game, especially his grappling before he even thinks about facing a grappler of Nurmagomedov or Dvalishvili’s elite caliber.

“Ideally, Merab beats Umar and I get the rematch. But if Umar wins it will be Umar. That’s what I want next is a title fight. Hopefully mid next year [against] the winner of that one,” O’Malley said in an interview with ‘Rizin’ in Japan

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Top Comment by Samuel manaole

No SUGA has to beat Yan next ( I don’t think he can ) then he gets a title shot....more

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Interestingly, the UFC is betting that both Dvalishvili and Nurmagomedov will make it to their much-awaited fight and no mishap will befall either man. Why else would Dana White and Co. decide to not even have a backup fighter for their bantamweight title clash? If anything happens to either man- an injury at the eleventh hour, a family emergency, a sudden illness – before to their clash, the fight would have to be called off entirely and rescheduled to a later date.

Some feel that Sean O’Malley would have made an excellent backup for the fight since he is still ranked #1 and was the champ until September last year. However, it seems that Dana White and Co. are hell-bent on making sure Dvalishvili and Nurmagomedov – and only Merab Dvalishvili and Umar Nurmagomedov – fight for the title next. He doesn’t even want to risk the title going to someone other than those men at UFC 311. This is good news for ‘Suga’ since it will give him more time to ‘level up’.

Sean O’Malley takes drastic steps to prepare for Dvalshvili or Nurmagomedov

Sean O’Malley’s unceremonious loss to Merab last year seems to have served as a wake-up call for the former champion. On a recent episode of his TimboSuga Show, the sniper revealed that he was ‘levelling up’ before his next fight (which he hopes would be for the title). But this levelling up is not only limited to his skills in the octagon. No. ‘Suga’ is determined to cut out the biggest distraction in his life- social media.

“Social media is the biggest distraction right now for me… I feel like I need to level up – especially to beat Umar, to beat Merab, to beat whoever’s next. To beat these top guys in the world, you’ve got to just be doing everything right, and I feel like I am… This is another, just a little bit more of a step up,” ‘Suga’ said.

Of course, it is important to remember O’Malley may want to fight the winner of the Dvalishvili-Nurmagomedov UFC 311 clash. But wanting something and getting it are two entirely different things. And O’Malley may have to work for another title shot against one of his former foes, against whom he won a controversial split decision not too long ago.

To be fair, there are no other top-ranked guys in the division contenders who jump out of the page as the next title contender. Except perhaps the Siberian dynamo, #3 ranked Petr Yan, who is fresh off a win over Deiveson Figueiredo, whom Dvalishvili originally wanted to fight for his first title defense. Which is why many feel it quite likely that O’Malley may need to rematch Yan in an official #1 title contender bout before he gets to fight for the title. That certainly would be fair since many think Yan was robbed of a win in their first fight.

What do you think about O’Malley demanding a title shot against the winner of Dvalishvili-Nurmagomedov next? Do you think Dana White and UFC will oblige him? Let us know in the comments down below.