Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili did not have the opportunity to get close to each other after the pre-fight press conference at UFC 306, as both the champion and the challenger had a lot to say.
After a lively question-and-answer session on stage, O’Malley took off his jacket – the same one Dvalishvili took from him at UFC 288 – and marched toward his opponent, with UFC general manager Dana White making sure no one got too close.
O’Malley immediately started yelling at Dvalishvili and it seemed as if Dvalishvili was promising a knockout, which is the same prediction he made during the press conference.
“I think I’m going to get it done the way I always get it done,” O’Malley said of how he plans to finish Dvalishvili. “I’m going to put this guy’s face first.”
When O’Malley said later in the press conference that he needed a knockout to move closer to an eventual move to boxing and a possible fight against Gervonta “Tank” Davis, it was Dvalishvili who responded.
“Keep dreaming,” Dvalisvhili shouted. “Nobody has knocked me out yet. Keep dreaming, Sean O’Malley. You don’t knock out Chito Vera (in his last fight).”
That earned him a snide response from O’Malley, who reminded him of how he won the bantamweight title from Dvalishvili’s friend and teammate Aljamain Sterling.
“But I knocked out Aljo, right?” O’Malley said. “That was pretty damn lucky. I keep getting lucky. It’s crazy. Every fight I get lucky. Somehow, some way, I get lucky.”
