Sean O'Malley would like nothing more than to give the people what they want.
The UFC Bantamweight Champion was under the impression that a super-fight with new featherweight king Ilia Topuria sounded great for the UFC fans. As it turns out, that's not exactly the fight they so crave.
Instead, a good fraction of the MMA community is pushing for O'Malley to fight #1 contender Merab Dvalishvili if he wins his next title defense vs. Chito Vera at UFC 299. This comes after a dominant performance by Dvalishvili over former two-division champ Henry Cejudo at UFC 298.
It's not what 'Suga' originally planned, but the champion is willing to compromise should he hear 'And Still' on Mar. 9.
"Just watched Henry vs. Merab for the first time, rewatched it on TV. Let me start with this. Initially, I was calling for Ilia. I want the Ilia fight. I wanted that fight. It excites me, but I also thought the fans would get excited about it. Got a lot of pushback saying, you're ducking Merab, Merab is next. So, Merab's next. Let's do Merab," O'Malley said on his YouTube channel.
Dvalishvili wants to avenge his teammate Aljamain Sterling, who suffered a title loss via TKO to O'Malley at UFC 292. Watch O'Malley's championship win below.
What is O'Malley's mission for 'The Machine'? Only to beat the Georgian more devastatingly than he did ex-champ Sterling in Boston.
"I'm telling you guys, I knock Merab out," O'Malley claimed. "I rewatched Henry vs. Aljo after I was there. And I told you guys, I'm knocking Aljo out. All you guys said, 'No way, you're not knocking Aljo out. He's gonna take you down and kill you. Here we go again.
"Obviously, gotta get through Chito. But I'm telling you guys, if I fight Merab, when I fight Merab, I'm knocking that dude out. He's sloppy. I'm accurate. I'm too fast. I'm too sharp. I'm telling you, boys. I put Merab's lights out, worse than Aljo.
"Aljo, a little TKO. Merab, I'm putting him to sleep, turning his nose straight.
While 'Chito' Vera and Merab Dvalishvili are his next targets, O'Malley isn't counting out the possibility of fighting Topuria in the future.
"The Ilia fight could happen someday. Ilia keeps doing his thing, I keep doing my thing, that's a big fight someday. I just wanna fight for the people. I wanna make the biggest fight possible, and I'll give credit to Merab. Merab f***ing has improved, not just fighting, but on social [media]. He's doing a really good job building himself up, just being himself, being a goofy, ugly ass, and he's doing a good job.
"So, that fight's next," O'Malley said regarding Dvalishvili. "I hope you're at weigh-ins, back-up fighter in case Chito doesn't show, like he didn't show up to Anaheim because he's scared. I'm taking Chito out. I'm taking Merab out. If Ilia is still champ, I'll take him out too."
If you use any quotes from this article, please leave an H/T to MMAKnockout.com for the transcription.
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