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Sean O’Malley breaks his silence after losing to Merab Dvalishvili again
Connor Scanlon • June 11th, 2025 5:29 pm
Sean O’Malley has finally broken his silence after losing his rematch to Merab Dvalishvili for the Bantamweight Title by submission in the third-round at UFC 316, conceding that his rival is simply the better fighter.
O’Malley had previously lost his title to Dvalishvili at UFC 306, after being dominated by Dvalishvili's wrestling, and blamed the lighting at the Las Vegas Sphere and a torn labrum for his defeat. But speaking honestly on his YouTube channel, he admitted that he had never felt more nervous ahead of a fight, for his matchup at UFC 316.
“(Before the fight) I definitely felt this kind of nervous feeling that I’m not used to,” O’Malley revealed.
“Just because of how the first fight played out, knowing his cardio is so crazy.
“I was more nervous this fight probably than I’ve ever been... (I felt) vulnerable, I was in the cage, I knew there’s a chance that I can’t get away from Merab (Dvalishvili).”
O’Malley believed that he was doing everything he needed to do against Dvalishvili, but the Georgian was just too good for him.
“Going in there I’m like, ‘I’m going to knock this guy out,’ O’Malley revealed.
“We executed the game plan, we were doing really well, we were doing what we needed to do.
“But he just did what he needed to do (better than us.)”
O’Malley’s head coach Tim Welch echoed that statement, also believing that they went above and beyond in their preparation for the fight, but Dvalishvili was just too good.
“God damn it, we prepared the absolute best we could,” Welch said.
“We felt like the tide was kind of turning towards us.
“But at the end of the day I’m like ‘that Merab was already a different Merab than who we fought at the Sphere’.
“The guy is a tank, he’s a goddamn machine.”
O’Malley continued by revealing that Dvalishvili imposed his physicality on O’Malley in a way that he couldn’t keep up with.
“He felt different, he felt stronger,” O’Malley admitted.
“I mean he felt strong last time but this time he felt stronger.
“It was freakishly strong.”
When speaking about the decisive third-round ninja choke submission which O’Malley tapped to. O’Malley admitted that he didn’t know Dvalishvili could pull that submission off against him.
“God it was weird, cause I didn’t feel like it was going to be tight,” he said.
“I felt like he was going to kind of stall in that position, like he does.
“it just got tight fast.
“I wish I would have been in my guard more instead of try to get up and make something happen.”
Despite being disappointed in himself, he gave Dvalishvili the ultimate compliment, declaring the champion as the better fighter, and best bantameweight of all time.
“He’s the greatest bantamweight of all time.”
In terms of his return to the octagon, O’Malley says he’s targeting a December return.
“The division is going to play out over the next few months, we’ll see where it goes,” he said.
“December seems like it would make sense for me to get back in there.
“Six, seven months, that’s what I was thinking. It’s nice to not think about a fight right now.”
With Sean O’Malley finally admitting that his modern-day rival is better than him, could we see an alleviated and evolved O’Malley in future fights?
