Sean O’Malley boldly claims Cory Sandhagen has more skills than ‘Khabib-like’ Merab Dvalishvili

Sean O’Malley finds it hard to pick between the two men set to compete in UFC 320’s bantamweight championship co-headliner.

O’Malley will have a keen eye on Saturday’s pay-per-view at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena, as Merab Dvalishvili defends the title he formerly held.

After getting past ‘Suga’ and Umar Nurmagomedov since capturing the throne, Dvalishvili will next be challenged by Cory Sandhagen, whose well-rounded skill set has been tipped by many to pose a stern test for ‘The Machine’.

Among those finding it hard to pick between the two is O’Malley. While the former champ knows firsthand how good Dvalishvili is, he actually sees ‘The Sandman’ as the more skilled fighter.

THROWBACK: Nate Diaz got into an altercation while attending Alex Pereira’s very first UFC title fightSean O’Malley says Cory Sandhagen has more skills ‘overall’ than Merab DvalishviliO’Malley has aspirations of returning to the top at 135 pounds, and he may need to get through either Sandhagen or Dvalishvili down the line to do so.

With that in mind, he’ll be paying attention as their co-main event on the October 4 numbered card plays out, and he broke the matchup down during an August appearance on Mike Perry’s Overdogs Podcast.

‘Suga’ compared Dvalishvili’s smothering wrestling game to Khabib Nurmagomedov, but claimed Sandhagen is actually the more skilled athlete “overall.”

“Me and Cory have very similar styles,” O’Malley said. “Cory did do a really good job against Umar; creating scrambles, keeping his hips high when Umar tried to get to his back.

“If Merab can get a hold of Cory, I just don’t see — Merab felt just so strong…his gas tank is ridiculous.

“If I had to guess, Merab, but it’s hard for me to count Cory out,” O’Malley continued. “I do think Cory, skill for skill, is one of the best guys in the UFC. I think he’s got more skills overall than Merab.

“But Merab, that skillset he does have is so good, so dominant, very Khabib-like in a sense.”

LATEST NEWS: Jon Jones snubbed as Chuck Liddell is named the ‘best American fighter in UFC history’Cory Sandhagen gives positive response to Sean O’Malley’s White House calloutAlthough O’Malley may struggle to secure another title shot while Dvalishvili remains on the bantamweight throne, a victory at UFC 320 for Sandhagen could open up the door.

If the challenger does capture the belt, O’Malley wants to face Sandhagen at the White House in 2026, an early callout that received a positive response from ‘The Sandman’ ahead of Saturday’s event in Las Vegas.

“Yeah, for sure, O’Malley’s been on my radar, I’ve been on his radar for a long time, and yeah, I’ll be on the A-side of it this time,” Sandhagen told MMA Fighting. “For a long time, O’Malley was the more famous guy who didn’t really want to, I don’t think, have too many conversations about fighting me.

“But when you’re champ, everyone wants to fight you. So yeah, it’ll be fun to be on the A-side of the side of that conversation instead of feeling like I’m begging for a fight against a star. I’ll be the star.

“I mean, s—, it’s gonna be a once in a lifetime thing,” he added, regarding the White House event. “It feels like it’s like the Sphere, but on steroids. Everyone was excited about the Sphere and this is going to take it to a whole another level, dude.”