The build-up to Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili’s clash at ‘Noche UFC’ is heating up! The two are set to face off in the main event at the one-of-a-kind UFC event set for September 14th at the technological marvel that is ‘The Sphere’ in Las Vegas. There is already history between the pair as O’Malley knocked out Dvalishvili’s friend and training partner, Aljamain Sterling, to secure the bantamweight title at UFC 292.

Later footage from the fight was shared online which showed clever tactics being employed by ‘Suga’s team! O’Malley’s head coach, Tim Welch, was shown in a video shouting, “Aljo, you’ve got to go!” just before Sterling charged, he got hit with the punch that ended the fight. While Sterling later dismissed the idea that he was affected by the yell, Merab Dvalishvili wasn’t happy at all.

In a post made on X, the Georgian fighter stated, “I will smash O’Malley inside the cage and then smash his coach outside of the cage.” The same energy was on display when O’Malley and Dvalishvili recently got into it during a promotional video shoot for their upcoming title clash. When Dvalishvili mentioned that he was still gunning for Welch, O’Malley responded by stating, “If you have a problem with him, you can take it up with him. He’ll fight you. If that’s what you want. After the fight you should definitely try to smack his face. You should definitely try that. That would be funny. You should try that.”

Dvalishvili fired back by claiming, “I’m talking about a street fight.”, to which an amused O’Malley had only one thing to say, “You could street fight him. I’d love to see that, you want to die? Is that what you’re saying? He’ll kill you.” The interaction has drawn a flurry of responses from fans and UFC women’s flyweight champion Alexa Grasso, who was also present in the background while all of this went down! Here’s a look at what the MMA sphere had to say.

Fans and UFC fighters can’t help but laugh at Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili’s latest war of words  

Women’s flyweight champion, Alexa Grasso who will be defending her title against Valentina Shevchenko on the same night as O’Malley and Dvalishvili’s showdown reacted with a series of laughing emojis. A sentiment that was also echoed by women’s strawweight champion, Zhang Weili, who had the same response to the interesting back-and-forth between the two bantamweights

@alexa_grasso: 😆😆😆 @zhangweilimma: 😂😂😂

Tim Welch, O’Malley’s head coach, and Dvalishvili’s nemesis claimed that he didn’t mean any disrespect through his comments but the Georgian wasn’t having any of it as he re-iterated that he still hasn’t let go of the fact that Welch may have been responsible for Aljamain Sterling losing his title

@timwelchmt: “all i said is “we’re gonna target his nose …..no disrespect “‘

@merab.dvalisvhili: “how about when you were distracting Aljo during the fight? you have to pay and will for all this BS disrespect!”

One fan pointed out that Welch, known as ‘Red Hawk’ during his fighting career, would be too much of a challenge to handle for Dvalishvili. With a 14-6 professional record, and standing 6 feet tall, Welch has the size advantage over the bantamweight title contender!

“Tim would drop him faster than Sean will “

Others couldn’t stop laughing at O’Malley’s response to the situation as he displayed supreme confidence in his coach’s ability to handle himself against a UFC fighter.

“What tension?  all he said was he wanted to fight his coach and Sean just says okay go for it “

While some felt as though ‘Suga’ lost the trash-talking exchange. However, O’Malley has been firing relentlessly on Dvalishvili as in a recent YouTube video the champion stated, “I’m going to make Merab look stupid. I’m going to make him look silly. I’m going to make him look like he doesn’t even belong in there with me.”

“Suga needs to work on his trásh talking skills”

One fan brought up the fact that despite the heated salvos being fired and Dvalisvili’s claims about wanting revenge for Aljamain Sterling they still feel as though ‘The Machine’ is going to stick to his usual gameplan of grinding his way to a decision

“Don’t care what anyone says all merab is gonna do is try to lay and pray to a decision”

In conclusion, the intense build-up between Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili shows no signs of cooling down. The back-and-forth exchanges, particularly over Tim Welch’s mid-fight comments, have only added fuel to the fire. The reactions from fellow fighters like Alexa Grasso and Zhang Weili, who found the situation amusing, hint at a mix of anticipation and skepticism within the MMA community about the seriousness of the feud.

But both men definitely have a score to settle once the Octagon door closes behind them on fight night! Do you think Sean O’Malley will be able to hold onto his title at ‘Noche UFC’ at ‘The Sphere’? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!