Sean Strickland reacts to Merab Dvalishvili's title win over Sean O'Malley at Noche UFC 306

8Merab Dvalishvili was able to dethrone Sean O'Malley in a dominant performance as he claimed the bantamweight title via unanimous decision at UFC 306. Sean Strickland, who has had issues with 'Suga' in the past, shared his reaction to the main event of Noche UFC, which marked the promotion's first event at The Sphere in Las Vegas.

In a post shared to his story on Instagram, the former middleweight champion stated:

"@merab.dvalishvili I'm proud of you man. Well deserved"

Check out a screenshot of Sean Strickland's story for Merab Dvalishvili below:

Screenshot of Sean Strickland's Instagram story

Strickland and O'Malley famously exchanged words at the UFC 2024 seasonal press conference last December. While 'Tarzan' went on to lose his middleweight title to Dricus du Plessis via split decision at UFC 297 the following month, 'Suga' was able to defend his belt for the first time when he defeated Marlon 'Chito' Vera via unanimous decision at UFC 299 in March.

However, O'Malley was unable to repeat the performance at UFC 306 as Dvalishvili put forth a dominant performance to extend his winning streak to 11 and capture the bantamweight title.

Ten of those victories have come at bantamweight, which is a divisional record. It also marked his fourth straight win over a champion - defeating Jose Aldo, Petr Yan and Henry Cejudo previously.

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Merab Dvalishvili shares plans for first title defense

Merab Dvalishvili has made it clear that he doesn't believe Umar Nurmagomedov deserves the next opportunity to fight for the bantamweight title. 'The Machine' doubled down on his stance, claiming that Deiveson Figueiredo should be his opponent in his first title defense.

Speaking at the UFC 306 post-fight press conference, the bantamweight champion stated:

"I want to fight the top of the top. I think Figueiredo, a former champion, would be the fifth champion on my list and he's more dangerous - knockout power, good jiu jitsu, makes people sleep. He's coming from three straight wins [against] tough guys. That's why I'm interested in this fight. It excites me. It makes me motivated. It makes me work hard. Umar, he's okay, but I'm telling you guys, from top-15, he only win one fight."

Check out Merab Dvalishvili's comments on the bantamweight title picture below:

Dvalishvili added that Nurmagomedov should face Petr Yan to earn a title shot. Despite only one ranked win, 'Young Eagle' is now the No.2-ranked bantamweight and appears to be next in line for a title shot after defeating Cory Sandhagen via unanimous decision at UFC on ABC 7.