Merab Dvalishvili says Marc Goddard stopped Sean O'Malley's fight with Aljamain Sterling "early"

Merab Dvalishvili has not competed since defeating Henry Cejudo via a dominant unanimous decision at UFC 298 in February. The No.1-ranked bantamweight is set to make his return to the octagon when he receives a long-awaited title opportunity against Sean O'Malley in the main event of the highly-anticipated UFC 306, which will mark the promotion's first event at The Sphere.

'The Machine' claimed his upcoming opponent was lucky to dethrone his teammate, Aljamain Sterling, saying Marc Goddard stopped the bout prematurely. Speaking to The Schmo, Dvalishvili stated:

"I'm going to beat Sean O'Malley and I'm going to show the MMA fans that he got lucky because he had referee Marc Goddard. Because Marc Goddard, we all know he likes to stop fights early. For example, even when I was fighting Marlon Moraes, I tell referee before, 'Hey, I might get caught, but please don't stop fight. I'd rather go sleep, I'd rather go out then stop me later, then don't stop me.'

"And [Keith] Peterson, he's a good referee. He usually never stops early fighters. He gives fighters a chance to fight."

Check out Merab Dvalishvili's comments on Sean O'Malley's victory over Aljamain Sterling below:

Dvalishvili added that if he is unable to defend himself, then he understands the referee stopping the fight, but if he is simply hurt, he doesn't need saving. He doubled down that Goddard prematurely stopped the bout, claiming the referee told Sterling to move but ultimately called the fight off when the former bantamweight champion followed his instructions.

O'Malley captured the bantamweight title by defeating 'Funk Master' via second-round TKO at UFC 292 last August.

Dominick Cruz weighs in on Sean O'Malley vs. Merab Dvalishvili

Sean O'Malley will look to defend his bantamweight title for the second time when he faces Merab Dvalishvili in the main event of UFC 306. Dominick Cruz weighed in on the matchup, claiming that it favors the champion stylistically. During a recent appearance on the Anik & Florian Podcast, the two-time bantamweight champion stated:

"Stylistically, you got a short guy who wants to wrestle and we know for a fact doesn't want to stand up ... It's not what he wants to do. It's not where he's comfortable, so the fight starts standing. That's where I see it's a good stylistic matchup for O'Malley."

Check out Dominick Cruz's comments on Sean O'Malley vs. Merab Dvalishvili below (starting at the 6:25 mark):

The upcoming bantamweight title bout will pit a striker against a wrestler. It will be interesting to see how Merab Dvalishvili deals with Sean O'Malley's height and reach advantage, as well as how the champion handles the challenger's non-stop pressure.