Aljamain Sterling isn’t sure that a rematch between UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O’Malley is the fight to make.
Dvalishvili (19-4 MMA, 12-2 UFC) retained his title when he outlasted Umar Nurmagomedov (18-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) in this past Saturday’s UFC 311 main event at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif. Prior to the fight, UFC CEO Dana White said that O’Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) is likely next in line for a title shot. Dvalishvili defeated O’Malley in pretty decisive fashion to claim the bantamweight title last September.
“It’ll be a nice payday,” Sterling said on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “I think it would be a really nice payday. The toughest fight will probably be the Petr Yan rematch and probably the most deserving in terms of what has he done lately. O’Malley fought Yan, he took 10-and-a-half, maybe 11 months off, and these are all facts.
“Then he fought me in August, and then he took more time off. Came back in March to fight ‘Chito’ (Vera), and then he fought again in September, and then he has fought again or won’t fight again until July or June. People talk about activity. … It’s just such a weird thing.”
O’Malley was taken down six times and controlled for more than 10 minutes in his unanimous decision loss to Dvalishvili. He was unable to land any significant offense outside of a late body kick, which certainly caught Dvalishvili’s attention.
Sterling, who was knocked out by O’Malley at UFC 292, doesn’t see “The Suga Show” beating Dvalishvili outside of landing a lucky punch.
“In terms of the better paycheck potentially, especially where Merab is now in his career, I think it might be the rematch with O’Malley,” Sterling continued. “I just think, in my opinion, it’s just a hard fight to sell. You’re not selling me that O’Malley does anything differently other than hoping to catch him once in 25 minutes. I don’t know, maybe he goes out and tries to toe kick him in the first round or something.”
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