Fans have not responded well to Dana White’s announcement that Sean O’Malley will rematch Merab Dvalishvili next for the title.
After increasing his starpower tenfold when he became the UFC bantamweight champion, Sean O’Malley was dethroned by Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306 last September.
Not only did Merab Dvalishvili beat Sean O’Malley, but he dealt with him with relative ease, bringing ‘Suga’s’ championship reign crashing down almost immediately.
Dvalishvili went on to defend his title against Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311 earlier this year, once again showcasing his dominance as O’Malley watched on.
O’Malley responds to criticism surrounding rematch announcement
O’Malley hasn’t fought since losing his title last September as he has been recovering from a torn labrum, which he took into the fight.
Despite that, he still remained hopeful that he would be granted an immediate rematch against Dvalishvili, and the two discussed a rematch during a recent meeting at the UFC Performance Institute.
Fortunately for ‘Suga’, UFC boss Dana White announced the rematch for UFC 316 during a breaking news live stream on his Instagram this past Tuesday.
The UFC fanbase hasn’t responded very well to the announcement, claiming that O’Malley doesn’t deserve an immediate rematch, considering he hasn’t fought since their first fight.
However, O’Malley has responded to the criticism with a video on his YouTube channel.
“The rematch is official, ‘Suga’ Sean vs Merab 2 is happening, and I don’t think people are gonna be too happy about it,” O’Malley admitted.
“The last time I fought the best bantamweight in the world, or the best bantamweight at the time, we got the job done. I’m very confident in my skills, last camp, we had some s— going on, I don’t want to sit here and make excuses, we had a great camp, we showed up I was in shape we did what we could.
“This camp has already been a lot different, and I’m feeling good. So, super excited to be able to go out there and take care of business. I feel like a lot of things I’ve made change-wise in my life are gonna attribute to my performance,” he continued.
Following his title loss, O’Malley decided to come off social media, which he believes will play a big difference in his UFC 316 camp.
Sean O’Malley claims his body ‘hasn’t felt this good’ since 2022
Having gone into his UFC 306 title defense with an injury, it showed in his disappointing performance, which is a mistake he likely won’t make again.
Since then, the 30-year-old has taken his recovery more seriously, and he has claimed that his body ‘hasn’t felt this good’ since his fight against Petr Yan in 2022.
The bantamweight title fight will be accompanied by a women’s bantamweight title fight between Julianna Pena and Kayla Harrison, taking place at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on June 7.
