Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili had their fight press conference, and it seems both fighters had much to say.
During a live question round, O’Malley took off his jacket—which Merab had given him —and stormed off towards his opponent. He began screaming at Merab, saying, “I think I’m going to get it done the way I always get it done.”
Later, O’Malley said a knockout win would help him gain a potential fight against Gervonta Davi, but Dvalishvili responded. “Keep dreaming,” Dvalisvhili shouted. “Nobody has knocked me out yet. Keep dreaming, Sean O’Malley. You didn’t knock out Chito Vera [in your last fight].”
O’Malley fired back with a comment on how he won the bantamweight title but defeated Aljamain Sterling–Dvalishvili’s friend. “I did knock out Aljo though, didn’t I?” O’Malley said. “That was lucky as f*ck. I keep getting lucky. It’s crazy. Every fight I get lucky.. Somehow, some way, I get lucky.”
Although the two have been trading words online for a while, Merab assured fans that it is just healthy competition.
“It’s not personal,” Dvalishvili said during UFC 306 media day. “This is a professional fight. This is for a UFC belt. It is for legacy. Yes, I was mad about him a couple of times. I was very mad when he disrespectfully mentioned my country. Because my country, it’s more than religion for me. I have my country [in my heart], that’s why I started fighting because I want to represent my country.
“This is a healthy competition. That’s all we do. Then when somebody, it doesn’t matter who, disrespects your family or your country, you have to be mad. If you are a man, you have to be mad and I wanted to smack his face that time.”
He continued.
“Now I have an even more important thing to beat him Saturday night and grab his belt, take his belt and I can talk after the fight,” Dvalishvili said. “Maybe I can forgive him, or we can just talk.
“I’m going to keep it that way. I want to just win and show him he has to be humble and he has to respect everybody. Now, today how I feel, it’s nothing personal, it’s just professional.”
