Merab Dvalishvili Wants Return of 'S--t Talking' Sean O'Malley Ahead of Rematch

Merab Dvalishvili doesn’t like the new, polite version Sean O'Malley.

Dvalishvili took O’Malley’s bantamweight title via a dominant unanimous decision at UFC 306 in September 2024. The two seemingly had some bad blood leading up to the fight, although no one crossed any limits. Dvalishvili also openly voiced his dislike for O’Malley’s coach, Tim Welch, even calling him out for barking instructions to “The Machine” mid-fight.

However, O’Malley and his corner have seemingly buried the hatchet with Dvalishvili. O’Malley recently called Dvalishvili a “nice guy” while expressing gratitude for making him a better fighter and human being by defeating him.

“Merab’s a nice guy, he really is… I’ll forever be grateful for Merab in the sense that he beat me, made me become not just a better fighter, a better human,” O’Malley said. “Losing is a weird thing.”

However, Dvalishvili would rather have “Suga” trash talking like old times as they head into their rematch.

“Cut it out [motherf—ers] go back to talking s—t. I need to be mad about you again,” Dvalishvili wrote on Instagram.

Dvalishvili defended his title against Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311 this past January to extend his winning streak to 12. Meanwhile, O’Malley hasn’t fought since losing his title, which he will try to reclaim against Dvalishvili in the main event at UFC 316 on June 7 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

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