WATCH: Sean O’Malley casually brushes off furious Merab Dvalishvili backstage for looking past bantamweight title fight

Sean O’Malley defended his bantamweight title for the first time against rival Marlon Vera at UFC 299. He dominated the fight throughout five rounds and won a unanimous decision. In his post-fight interview, he called out featherweight champion Ilia Topuria. Feeling ignored, #1 bantamweight contender Merab Dvalishvili raged cage side. A clip of the two meeting backstage made its rounds on social media.

Merab Dvalishvili approached Sean O’Malley when he was returning to his locker room. While he initially congratulated ‘Suga’ on the win, he questioned why O’Malley didn’t call him out. In response, O’Malley took a good look at Dvalishvili and trolled him. This is what O’Malley said:

Oh, s**t, I didn't know who that was.

Sean O’Malley to Merab Dvalishvilia (fan footage)

Merab Dvalishvili is the deserving contender for the next title challenger spot. He is on a ten-fight win streak and has beaten three former champions. Recently, he beat Henry Cejudo impressively at UFC 298. To further solidify his title challenger spot, ‘The Machine’ even weighed in as the backup fighter for UFC 299. However, Sean O’Malley would rather fight Ilia Topuria than Merab.

While many criticized Sean O’Malley for ducking Merab Dvalishvili, he admitted his preference to fight Ilia Topuria. However, O’Malley has not said he would not fight Merab. Considering their striking skills, he justified that a Topuria matchup would have an entertaining outcome. Also, their stardom levels and the champ-champ fight would only help make it massive.

Ilia Topuria wants Sean O’Malley to defend his title against Merab Dvalishvili

Sean O’Malley’s clinical performance at UFC 299 garnered huge praise from the MMA community. He won a lopsided decision victory as all the judges awarded him every round of the fight. As such, this performance impressed O’Malley’s rival Ilia Topuria as he appreciated the bantamweight champion on X. Later, the Spaniard also addressed the callout from him.

Soon after retaining his title, Sean O’Malley went after Ilia Topuria and called him out. In a reply tweet, Ilia Topuria advised the bantamweight champion to defend his title against Merab Dvalishvili. He put aside their most anticipated and talked about super-fight. However, he seemed interested in whether O’Malley would beat ‘The Machine’ next. Here is what he said:

Suga, congrats.. Was a beautiful performance! There is a fight chasing you with Merab.. Get that done first.

Ilia Topuria (via X)

Sean O’Malley and Ilia Topuria have exchanged heated words in the past. They went back and forth on X, teasing a potential super-fight between them. All these started even before Topuria became a UFC champion.

Now, with both stars on the top of their divisions, the stars are aligned to make this fight. However, Merab Dvalishvili changed the whole conversation. As such, the way the UFC goes for Sean O’Malley remains unknown at the moment.

In case you missed it:

• “Will face the same fate as my previous opponents” – Shavkat Rakhmonov sends COLD response to Jack Della Maddalena’s courageous call out
• WATCH: Donald Trump’s presence at UFC 299 triggers ‘F**K Joe Biden’ chants among Miami fight fans

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