Sean O'Malley sends a message to Umar Nurmagomedov after Merab Dvalishvili's injury reveal sparks pull-out rumors

'Sugar' Sean O'Malley has taken aim at Umar Nurmagomedov amid rumors of Merab Dvalishvili possibly withdrawing from their long-awaited grudge match. O'Malley, who's long been at odds with Nurmagomedov as well, jibed at the Dagestani fighter over the latter's appearance.

O'Malley is scheduled to defend his UFC bantamweight championship against Dvalishvili in the headlining match of UFC 306 on Sept. 14, 2024. Branded as 'Riyadh Season Noche UFC,' it'll be the first UFC event organized at the Las Vegas Sphere. It promises to be a unique experience for combat sports fans and will have a Mexican Independence Day theme.

The highly-anticipated O'Malley-Dvalishvili title showdown is one of the most important fights on the UFC 306 card. On that note, Dvalishvili recently posted an Instagram video, showing he'd suffered a cut above his left eye during training camp.

During the DWCS (Dana White's Contender Series) 68 post-event press conference, UFC CEO Dana White sounded off on Merab Dvalishvili for publicly announcing that he'd suffered a training injury this close to the high-profile event. Meanwhile, Dvalishvili reassured that he wouldn't pull out from the fight.

For his part, O'Malley took to X and lambasted Dvalishvili by writing:

"This little f**kin rat better not pull out I swear to god."

Moreover, Sean O'Malley has now put forth another tweet, suggesting that if the No. 1-ranked Merab Dvalishvili were to withdraw from their fight, he'd defend his title against the No. 2-ranked Umar Nurmagomedov instead. 'Sugar' seemed to mock Nurmagomedov's eyebrows and mispronounce his and Dvalishvili's names. The American MMA stalwart wrote:

"Umar wax that unibrow just in case merat pulls out."

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Sean O'Malley disparages Merab Dvalishvili's work amid pull-out rumors before UFC 305

Merab Dvalishvili's longtime training partner and former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling notably responded to the criticism directed at Dvalishvili by Dana White and others. Sterling indicated that there's been an overreaction to Dvalishvili's posting about his training injury.

Furthermore, Dvalishvili has posted multiple training videos to his social media handles, besides explaining that the fight will go ahead as planned despite the cut he's suffered.

At UFC 288 in May 2023, Sean O'Malley was going back and forth with then-UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling, while Merab Dvalishvili supported Sterling and took away 'Sugar's' jacket.

O'Malley took to X to hark back to that incident amid rumors that Dvalishvili could withdraw from the UFC 306 event. He appeared to mock 'The Machine,' writing:

"Mirebs 2 biggest moments of his career. 1. I let him hold my jacket. 2. He gets a cut before he fights me"