Sean O’Malley is a lot more confident going into his second fight against UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili.
O’Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) rematches Dvalishvili (19-4 MMA, 12-2 UFC) on June 7 in the UFC 316 headliner at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. O’Malley lost his bantamweight title to Dvalishvili at UFC 306 by unanimous decision last September.
O’Malley later revealed that he went into the fight with a torn labrum in his hip and underwent surgery after the fight to repair it. He said the injury hampered his ability to do any grappling in camp.
“This sounds like I’m exaggerating, and I’m not,” O’Malley said on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “Just today, this morning practice that I had, I grappled more today than I grappled last fight camp for Merab. I know it sounds like – we did seven, six-minute rounds today, grappling hard, picking the hardest guys, just straight grappling today. I wasn’t able to do that once last camp. That last camp was not a great camp.
“It was great for what I was able to do. … I felt as good as I could going into the fight. I know I could wrestle better than I showed in that last fight. That was borderline embarrassing what I was able to do against Merab. Merab’s tough. Merab’s good. Merab’s probably considered the greatest bantamweight of all time as of right now. So I’m going to go out there, knock him out. What does that make me?”
Don’t like the rematch? ‘Don’t watch’
O’Malley is well aware of the criticism surrounding the UFC’s decision to give him an immediate rematch. He had a simple solution for those unhappy with the fight.
“Don’t watch,” O’Malley said. “Saturday night, June 7, f*cking watch your reality TV show. Don’t watch the fight. I do (understand where they’re coming from), 100 percent. That last fight, I don’t think a lot of people went and truly rewatched it. It’s not one of those fights that’s super worth rewatching unless – I do think the second time watching it, it is a little bit closer than the first time you watched it live.
“But I don’t think many people rewatched it, and they weren’t interested in rewatching it. Their opinion is just going to kind of stay the same. But, again, if they’re not interested, don’t watch it. But when I go out there and win, I guarantee people are going rewatch it or at least rewatch the finish, if there’s a finish. Might be a five-round decision, could be a finish, we’ll see. At the end of the day, that Sunday rolls around, people are going to be talking about it.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 316.
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