'He's a problem'… Sean O'Malley and his coach react to Merab Dvalishvili's wild win at UFC 311 as rematch talks ramp up
01/19/2025 03:11 PM
Former UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley and his longtime coach gave their first thoughts on Merab Dvalishvili’s showing at UFC 311.
Sean O’Malley and his coach Tim Welch sat cageside at the Intuit Dome as Merab Dvalishvili outpointed Umar Nurmagomedov en route to a unanimous decision win. After a slow start, Dvalishvili put a ferocious pace on Nurmagomedov in the later rounds, and retained the title in an instant classic at UFC 311.
O’Malley, who lost the bantamweight belt to Dvalishvili at UFC 306 in September, is plotting a potential rematch against Dvalishvili for his next fight. He believes he was robbed on the judges’ scorecards in their first matchup, despite the vast majority of fans and pundits believing Dvalishvili deserved the nod.
As O’Malley gets closer to booking his UFC comeback, potentially against Dvalishvili, he kept a keen eye on the UFC 311 co-main event. Despite Dvalishvili’s jaw-dropping performance, particularly in the championship rounds, O’Malley and Welch remain unfazed by the bantamweight champ’s skillset.
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Sean O’Malley’s coach opens up on Merab Dvalishvili rematch following UFC 311
In a recent upload to his YouTube channel, coach Tim Welch gave his initial reaction to Dvalishvili’s win ahead of a potential rematch with O’Malley.
“[Merab] is on a streak, I’ll tell you what,” Welch said. “You could tell after that fourth round that Umar was seriously gassed, he was really tired. He did a good job wrestling, Merab was shooting a ton and Umar was doing a great job at stuffing all of his shots. If he did hit his butt, he hit his butt just for a second and popped right up, but Merab just kept that pace and cardio on him. He’s got some cardio, I’ll tell you that.
“That last 30 seconds of the fight I think really made Merab win the fight. He’s a problem, he’s a big problem. But I do believe that we can be the kryptonite to Merab with the right game plan and a good fight camp. With ‘Suge’ healthy, I think we take him out. And we’ll find out, now won’t we?”
As of this writing, O’Malley’s return timeline is uncertain, as he recovers from hip surgery he underwent shortly after UFC 306. He entered UFC 306 with a torn labrum he partially blamed for his flat performance against Dvalishvili.
Sean O’Malley, Petr Yan both make cases for Merab Dvalishvili rematches
UFC CEO Dana White was non-commital on Dvalishvili vs. O’Malley 2 after UFC 311. Former UFC titleholder Petr Yan, who defeated Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC Macau last year, is also in the mix for a potential title shot.
If Dvalishvili isn’t ready to return within O’Malley’s comeback timeline, O’Malley could potentially face Yan in a No. 1 contender fight. They competed earlier in their careers at UFC 280 with O’Malley earning a split decision win before knocking out Aljamain Sterling for the title at UFC 292.
After winning the belt at UFC 306, Dvalishvili seemed open to granting O’Malley an immediate rematch. Time will tell if the two top bantamweights will run it back in 2025.
