Joe Rogan lays road map for Sean O’Malley to achieve ‘Champ-Champ’ aspiration against Ilia Topuria

Joe Rogan talks about Sean O'Malley's challenges to become the next UFC double champion. 

Joe Rogan lays road map for Sean O’Malley to achieve ‘Champ-Champ’ aspiration against Ilia Topuria

Joe Rogan talks about Sean O'Malley wanting to be double champion (via Imago)

The UFC has yet to officially schedule Sean O’Malley’s next title defense. Joe Rogan believes Merab Dvalishvili should receive the next shot at O’Malley. Rogan and Comedian Joey Diaz recently talked about a plethora of topics on the Joe Rogan Experience. During the podcast, both individuals talked at length about UFC events, exciting fighters, and speculations regarding title fights.

According to Rogan, Dvalishvili deserves the UFC Bantamweight title shot against Sean O’Malley next. Moreover, Joe Rogan revealed what ‘Suga’ needed to do in order to fight for the featherweight title against Ilia Topuria. He could not envision any scenario where O’Malley fought for the featherweight belt without fighting Merab Dvalishvili.

Sugar Sean said he wanted to go up and fight Topuria but Topuria said ‘No I want you to fight Merab’, who's also from Georgia just like Ilia. Merab is the rightful guy that should be fighting at 35. But if Sean gets past Merab, you can see a world where they can make a champion vs championship fight at 145. 
Joe Rogan via The Joe Rogan Experience
YouTube video

O’Malley called out Topuria right after his flawless title defense against Marlon Vera at UFC 299. The fighter also mentioned fighting Dvalishvili if that’s what the UFC wanted. Since then, the Georgian fighter has constantly trolled O’Malley on social media platforms in order to promote the rivalry. 

FS Video

Dvalishvili is currently on a 10-fight win streak and has dominated other bantamweight fighters. In his last fight, he beat former champion Henry Cejudo very convincingly. Hence, matching up Dvalishvili and Suga makes sense at the moment. The UFC might book the duo in a title fight in the last quarter of 2024.

Merab Dvalishvili mocks Sean O’Malley for taking one year to prepare for the fight 

After several speculations about the next bantamweight title fight, Sean O’Malley finally chose his opponent. To no one’s surprise, it was Merab Dvalishvili. The fighter took to X and mentioned he would fight the challenger in 2025. 

Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O'Malley
Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O’Malley (Via UFC/Forbes)

However, that didn’t sit well with ‘The Machine,’ and he snapped back at O’Malley. First, Dvalishvili corrected O’Malley for wrongly spelling his name and took a sneaky jibe at the champion regarding the suggested timeline. 

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.
Merab Dvalishvili via X

Fight fans are hyped about Merab Dvalishvili vs. Sean O’Malley, and it can potentially be a top PPV event. Dvalishvili is known for his cardio and can easily fight five title rounds. ‘Suga’ has the power and would aim to finish Dvalishvili when they clash inside the octagon.

In case you missed it!