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Sean O'Malley recently expressed his gratitude toward the UFC for granting him a rematch against Merab Dvalishvili, which will headline UFC 316. He noted that the bout came together rather quickly and he wasn't involved in a lengthy negotiation process.
O'Malley lost his bantamweight championship to Dvalishvili last September at Noche UFC 306 and has since remained sidelined to recover from an injury. The bout against 'The Machine' was only his second title defense, so there was a mixed response among the MMA community when it was announced that he would receive an immediate title shot when he returned.
During his latest appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, O'Malley opened up about the UFC granting him a rematch against Dvalishvili and opportunity to avenge his loss. 'Suga' expressed his gratitude and mentioned that his primary focus was getting to fight 'The Machine' again regardless of whether or not he was champion:
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"I'm very grateful for the UFC giving me the rematch. I didn't really have much conversation with [them]. I did tell them that was really the only fight I was interested in... Not even the belt, it wasn't even I wanted the belt back, I wanted Merab. I wanted that fight back. And there wasn't much negotiation there, it was kinda like, 'Alright, let's do it'."
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Check out Sean O'Malley's comments below:
Sean O'Malley highlights similarities between Merab Dvlalishvili and Marlon 'Chito' Vera rematches
Sean O'Malley also highlighted a key similarity between his upcoming rematch against Merab Dvalishvili and past rematch against Marlon 'Chito' Vera.
O'Malley avenged his previous loss to Vera when he successfully retained his bantamweight championship against him in their rematch. During the aforementioned clip, 'Suga' expressed interest in doing the same to Dvalishvili and mentioned that he wants to prove that he wasn't at his best in their first encounter:
"I had to wait three-and-a-half years to prove that the first 'Chito' [Vera] fight wasn't the way it was supposed to play out. This one, I didn't have to wait nearly as long, but I'm excited to go out there and do something similar in the rematch with Merab."
Check out the full episode featuring Sean O'Malley's appearance below:
