Sean O'Malley's biggest concerns coming into UFC 316

Grappling isn't the issue; Merab's chain-wrestling is O'Malley's biggest adversary in this fight

O'Malley can grapple, it's a highly underrated facet of his game. 'Suga' has competed in Quintet and submitted submission specialists like Takanori Gomi as early as 2019. Six years on, we can assume O'Malley has a well-rounded MMA grappling game.

He did well enough to counter Dvalishvili's initial attempts in their first fight, but 'The Machine' does what many fighters are allergic to doing: creating a chain takedown. Dvalishvili isn't afraid to turn a double leg into a single, or a trip.

This is exactly what O'Malley suffered with in the first fight, and it's why Dvalishvili wears down on his opponents as the rounds accumulate. Muscles fatigue, and the more Dvalishvili holds O'Malley down, the fewer opportunities he'll have on his feet as a result.

0-2 in back-to-back title fights is a terrible position to be in for O'Malley

O'Malley has gambled big-time on this immediate rematch. Instead of taking his chances with a warm-up fight in the interim, he's opted to risk everything with another crack at the champ.

Back-to-back losses to Dvalishvili will almost eradicate O'Malley from the title picture, and he'll need to knock back multiple top contenders to throw his name back in the ring. This means fighting guys like Umar Nurmagomedov, Cory Sandhagen, and perhaps Patchy Mix.

Is there a world in which O'Malley puts together a win streak with those names involved? We don't know, but narratives like this, and tonight's UFC 316 is why we love the sport.