Sean O’Malley was a little surprised to see Merab Dvalishvili booked vs. Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311.
Bantamweight champion Dvalishvili (18-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC) defends his title against Nurmagomedov (18-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) in the Jan. 18 co-main event (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif.
After Dvalishvili dethroned O’Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) by unanimous decision at UFC 306 in September, he refused to acknowledge Nurmagomedov as No. 1 contender. He was even willing to grant O’Malley a rematch so, O’Malley was surprised to see Nurmagomedov get his wish with UFC 311 approaching so soon.
“Dude, that’s next month,” O’Malley said of Dvalishvili vs. Nurmagomedov on his “TimboSugaShow” podcast. “That’s like 30 days away, and there’s like two title fights (that) get announced, which they may have known about them further out.
“But, it seems like the Merab vs. Umar, like no one really knew. Umar was going to fight in December, Merab wanted to fight in March and it was like, I might fight (Dvalishvili) in April, which is all in my head.”
O’Malley sees a potential fight with Nurmagomedov being massive, but would also love to avenge his loss to Dvalishvili – a fight he thinks is much closer than people give him credit for.
“I want Merab to win because I want that one back,” O’Malley said. “I want the rematch. I want that one back. That’s what I want. But if Umar wins, that’s a big fight, too.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 311.
