‘It’s happening’ – Merab Dvailishvili confirms Sean O’Malley next fight as UFC champion predicts rematch

UFC champion Merab Dvalishvili has confirmed he will rematch Sean O’Malley for the bantamweight title.

Dvalishvili won the belt from O’Malley last September at UFC 306, which took place at Las Vegas’ iconic Sphere.

Dvalishvili dominated O’Malley at UFC 306 to win his titleCredit: Getty

The fight headlined the event in Las Vegas’ remarkable SphereCredit: Getty‘The Machine’ then defended the 135 pounds strap against Umar Nurmagomedov in January, while O’Malley, 30, remained on the sidelines waiting for his rematch.

“It’s happening, yeah,” Dvalishvili told Clockednloaded at Dana White’s Power Slap 12 event in Las Vegas this month.

Dvalishvili, 34, was then pressed on when he believes the fight will take place and if it could be as soon as this summer.

“I don’t know about a time yet, but it’s happening,” the Georgian champion added before predicting that he would ‘finish’ O’Malley in their rematch.

READ MORE SEAN O’MALLEYDvalishvili and O’Malley went viral after sharing pictures together in a jacuzzi at the UFC Performance Institute this month.

“Having some fun in the jacuzzi with Sean O’Malley,” Dvalishvili wrote on X following the meeting.

The pair were also caught on O’Malley’s social media discussing their imminent rematch.

“Ready to go again?” O’Malley said. “Your last fight was impressive. You looked good, that was a fun fight to watch.”

Dvalishvili responded: “When are we gonna fight? I know you hit hard and then I know you’re gonna change plan.”

O’Malley answered: “I only had one hip last time. I have both hips now.”

Dvalishvili said that he is going to ‘finish’ O’Malley in the rematchCredit: Getty

O’Malley defended the bantamweight title once against Marlon VeraCredit: GettyDvalishvili chimed in, saying: “I’m gonna use my striking,” and when O’Malley laughed he added: “You think I won’t? You think I’m not? Look what I did to Umar. It was striking.”

O’Malley replied: “I know. It was like what the hell? I didn’t know you could do that.”

He jokingly followed up: “I would say good luck but no I hope you have bad luck.”

Dvalishvili failed to finish O’Malley at UFC 306, instead slugging it out over five rounds to claim a unanimous decision victory.

The UFC champion, in fact, has only finished one of his 12 victories in White’s promotion with the other 11 wins coming by way of decisions.

However, he dominated the American at UFC 306, landing 214 of his total 310 strikes compared to O’Malley’s 49 of 91.

Dvalishvili dominated O’Malley to win his first UFC titleCredit: Getty

And defended it successfully for the first time against Umar NurmagomedovCredit: gettyDvalishvili also completed six of his 15 attempted takedowns and incredibly had over 10 minutes of ground control time.

The fight was marred by several unusual incidents right from the off as veteran referee Herb Dean immediately called a halt to action to prevent Dvalishvili from trash-talking O’Malley’s coach, Tim Welch.

Welch got a warning for ‘excessive coaching’, before Dean had even more work to do after Dvalishvili tried to kiss his opponent.

The round ended with O’Malley landing a massive punch after the Georgian fighter turned his back whilst getting a telling-off for ‘kissing’.

‘Suga’ was ultimately unable to capitalise on his elite striking and the cageside judges crowned a new bantamweight champion as they scored the fight 49–46, 48–47, and 48–47 in favour of Dvalishvili.

“Today was a normal day for me,” Dvalishvili told Joe Rogan after the bout.

“As you see, I don’t spend my energy. Crazy. I feel I’m in a dream. Today, I’m the best fighter in the UFC. I proved!”

O’Malley revealed in December that he was cutting out social media for good to reclaim his belt as it was the ‘biggest distraction’ in his life.

Read More on talkSPORT‘Suga’ won the 135-pound strap for the first time by knocking out Aljamain Sterling in 2023 and successfully defended it once against Marlon Vera before losing it to Dvalishvili.

He underwent surgery after the bout with Dvalishvili to repair a torn shoulder labrum, and is now targeting a return in 2025 to reclaim the bantamweight strap.