Is Merab Dvalishvili an easier matchup for Sean O’Malley than Aljamain Sterling?

Sean O’Malley took the UFC by storm with his knockout victory in Dana White’s Contender Series. Sans a setback against Marlon Vera at UFC 252 due to a peroneal nerve injury, O’Malley has not suffered a setback in his career. Recently, he won the rematch against Vera at UFC 299. O’Malley is 12-1 (1 No-Contest) in the UFC and has two notable victories over former champions Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan on his resume. However, he does not have a victory over Merab Dvalishvili, the number one contender.

After his masterclass performance against Vera at UFC 299, O’Malley called out featherweight champion Ilia Topuria. However, UFC CEO Dana White already promised Merab Dvalishvili would receive the next shot at the title. Dvalishvli has the longest active winning streak in the division. Other than Dvalishvili, only Cory Sandhagen has a valid claim to challenge for the title.

Even though Dvalishvili had a long winning streak, he refused to fight then-champion/best friend Aljamain Sterling. That made it easy for O’Malley to fight Sterling at UFC 292 and defeat him via second-round knockout to become the new champion. Post victory, O’Malley called out Vera for a rematch even though many felt Dvalishvili and Sandhagen deserved it more. The UFC aligned with O’Malley’s wishes for storyline/promotional purposes.

Even though Merab Dvalishvili has victories against Henry Cejudo, Petr Yan, and Jose Aldo, Sean O’Malley is the worst matchup for him. O’Malley finished Aljamain Sterling, ‘the bantamweight GOAT,’ in two rounds. Against Dvalishvili, O’Malley would not require that much time.

Sean O’Malley’s fight against Aljamain Sterling

Sean O’Malley is one of the most dynamic strikers ever in the UFC. Israel Adesanya, Alexander Volkanovski, and Robert Whittaker have called him the best striker ever in the UFC’s bantamweight division. The aforementioned three picked O’Malley to dethrone Sterling, and he did exactly that. After a first round that did not have any action, O’Malley knocked out a frustrated Sterling, who rushed in with a punch.

As far as accomplishments go, Aljamain Sterling is the best bantamweight ever, and even O’Malley has acknowledged it. Moreover, Sterling is one of the best wrestlers the division has ever seen along with Merab Dvalishvili. However, Sterling’s style is a combination of his NCAA Division III wrestling and his funky BJJ which earned him the nickname, ‘The Funk Master.’ Despite his accomplishments and having almost a similar size to O’Malley, he could not secure a takedown against the Montana native.

For context, Sterling has taken down the likes of Petr Yan, Henry Cejudo, TJ Dillashaw, and Cory Sandhagen. Moreover, he finished both Dillashaw and Sandhagen in two rounds. Nonetheless, O’Malley successfully defended Sterling’s two takedown attempts in round 1 of their bout. Petr Yan had easily taken down O’Malley in his previous fight but O’Malley showed significant improvements in his fight against Sterling. What was even more impressive was the fact that O’Malley had an injury during camp and could not wrestle properly before his fight at UFC 292.

Fighters who took down Sean O’Malley

In his 12 fights in the UFC, Sean O’Malley has a 63% takedown defense and has a takedown accuracy of 43% in seven attempts. Nonetheless, not many fighters succeeded against O’Malley using wrestling. Alfred Khashakyan took him down, but O’Malley knocked him out. Andre Soukhamthath took O’Malley down four times, but O’Malley’s superior striking won him a unanimous decision.

Thomas Almeida also took O’Malley down but lost via knockout as well. Petr Yan took O’Malley down six times, but O’Malley out-landed the Russian fighter in significant strikes to earn a controversial split-decision victory. Many other fighters have tried to get takedowns, but O’Malley successfully defended it all. From the above facts, it is evident that anyone could take O’Malley down but has yet to keep him down and defeat him.

Sean O’Malley’s striking prowess

Striking is where O’Malley shines, as he has 61% striking accuracy and even has a staggering 7.25 significant strikes landed per minute. 93% of his strikes were in the distance, and his clinch and ground strikes were in single digits. Even though fighters took him down, O’Malley got back up and imposed his striking against all of them. O’Malley’s target is mainly the head of his opponents, followed by the body and the legs. He has landed 70% in the head, 20% in the body, and 10% in the legs.

O’Malley has pinpoint accuracy as evidenced by his knockouts, especially of Aljamain Sterling and Eddie Wineland. Moreover, he was able to find the chin and severely hurt both Petr Yan and Marlon Vera, two durable fighters in the division. O’Malley uses front kicks to full effect and also uses deceptive knees up the middle, with which he hurt Yan and Vera. His fight at UFC 299 also showed that he has the cardio to throw huge volumes for five rounds.

Why is Merab Dvalishvili an easier matchup?

Mera Dvalishvili weaponized cardio and used it to drown his opponents. Accomplished fighters like Henry Cejudo and Petr Yan looked like amateurs in front of Dvalishvili. Moreover, he neutralized Jose Aldo’s striking in a three-round fight. However, Dvalishvili is not invincible. Like O’Malley, Dvalishvili has had 12 fights in the UFC, but he only has a single finish. Moreover, that finish was due to the exhaustion of his opponent, Marlon Moraes.

Moraes severely hurt Dvalishvili in the first round of their fight, and nobody would’ve blamed the referee if he had stopped the fight. However, Moraes recklessly emptied the gas tank and lost in the next round. Henry Cejudo also rocked Dvalishvili in the first round of their bout but did not capitalize on it. In both cases, Dvalishvili survived and won dominantly. That would not be the outcome if Sean O’Malley stood across him from the cage.

Even more than the wrestling, Aljamain Sterling’s Jiu-Jitsu was the biggest cause of worry for O’Malley. He has shown that he could easily get up if taken down. However, Sterling posed a submission threat. Merab Dvalishvili does not have elite submission skills like Sterling. Moreover, Dvalishvili also does not have good enough ground control time. Due to these reasons, O’Malley won’t fear the takedowns from Dvalishvili.

Therefore, it would give him the freedom to showcase his dynamic striking. If Cejudo and Dvalishvili could crack Dvalishvili, O’Malley could do the same as well. Moreover, O’Malley has the patience and poise to land follow-up shots perfectly and make the referee stop the fight. O’Malley’s finish of Sterling is the best example of it. After he dropped Sterling, O’Malley followed it up with accurate follow-up shots that looked poised and never gave the referee an opportunity to have second thoughts about jumping in.

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