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Merab Dvalishvili is intent on flipping the script against Sean O'Malley in his next fight.
As the UFC bantamweight champion has been tweeting about since winning the belt, O'Malley mentioned his interest in boxing once again on social media following Ryan Garcia's career-defining win over Devin Haney. O'Malley wrote off the No.1 contender in his own sport, declaring he would "KO Merab" then pursue a boxing fight with Garcia.
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Dvalishvili quickly rejected the forecast, quote-tweeting the post and saying he would be the fighter to win by knockout in the anticipated title fight. 'The Machine' then took O'Malley's plan as his own, saying he would accept the idea of boxing Garcia.
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Dvalishvili tweeted:
"The KO will be coming from me so I guess I will be boxing Ryan next??!! #UFCNoche"
The Georgian ended his tweet with "#UFCNoche," implying that he is eyeing the Mexican fight card as his ideal date for a fight with O'Malley.
Since O'Malley defended his title against Marlon Vera at UFC 299, 'Suga' has not been booked to fight Dvalishvili, but the matchup was unofficially confirmed by Dana White after the Georgian took out Henry Cejudo the previous month.
O'Malley later announced that he is open to making his next title defense against Dvalishvili despite previously dismissing the top contender while chasing a potential featherweight title fight with Ilia Topuria.
Who has Merab Dvalishvili lost to in the UFC?
As the current No.1 bantamweight contender, Merab Dvalishvili has not lost a fight since 2018, winning 10 in a row.
However, the road was not always smooth for 'The Machine' in the UFC, as he began his career in the promotion at 0-2 after being signed off an episode of Dana White: Lookin' for a Fight. Dvalishvili lost his debut to Frankie Saenz by split decision and, in his second outing, was controversially submitted by Ricky Simón.
After Dvalishvili controlled most of the fight, Simón had him in a mounted guillotine choke for the final minute of the fight. Despite not tapping out or having the referee declare a technical submission before the final horn, the cage-side official determined that Dvalishvili was unconscious at the end of the fight and awarded Simón the submission.
