Sean O'Malley shares shocking insights into Aljamain Sterling and Merab Dvalishvili friendship ahead of UFC 306

Sean O'Malley last entered the octagon at UFC 299 in March when he defended the bantamweight title for the first time, defeating Marlon 'Chito' Vera via unanimous decision. He is set to make his return this weekend when he faces Merab Dvalishvili in the main event of UFC 306, which will mark the promotion's first event at the Las Vegas Sphere.

'Suga' recently revealed that he doesn't believe 'The Machine' and his teammate Aljamain Sterling are as close as the public believes. Speaking to TMZ Sports, the bantamweight champion stated:

"I don't know what Aljo is going to tell Merab, 'he's a buck, he's fast, he's sharp, he's accurate, he's hard to take down, good luck'. There wasn't a lot of success Aljo had in that fight. If anything, Aljo probably shouldn't tell him anything because it's probably just going to make him a little bit nervous so who knows."

O'Malley continued:

"Aljo probably hopes I beat Merab. It makes Aljo look better. I'm just curious if Merab was happy that I knocked out Aljo because if I didn't knock out Aljo, Merab still would be waiting around. So, I have a little theory that maybe they're not as good as buddies as we all thought."

Check out Sean O'Malley's comments on Aljamain Sterling and Merab Dvalishvili below (2:20):

O'Malley was able to dethrone Sterling at UFC 292 last August, winning the bout via second-round TKO to capture the bantamweight title. Meanwhile, Dvalishvili is on a ten-fight winning streak and will have his first opportunity to fight for UFC gold.

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Sean O'Malley weighs in on Merab Dvalishvili's cut

Merab Dvalishvili shared that he suffered a cut above his eye just weeks ahead of UFC 306. Sean O'Malley was recently asked about the injury during an interview with TMZ Sports, responding:

"Merab's pretty much as dumb as this piece of paper right here so I wasn't really surprised that Merab was posting that he got a cut on his eye against a sniper like me, but again, I'm going to have to get around that nose to get to that eyebrow anyways so it's going to be a difficult challenge to try to even hit that eye."

Check out Sean O'Malley's comments on Merab Dvalishvili below (5:37):

It is unclear if the injury will impact either fighter's strategy heading into UFC 306. The card will mark the promotion's first event at the Las Vegas Sphere, with UFC CEO Dana White claiming it will be the biggest event in combat sports history.