UFC champ Sean O'Malley states "only thing" preventing fight against Merab Dvalishvili despite best efforts to "get it booked ASAP"

Sean O'Malley wants to get his fight with Merab Dvalishvili as soon as possible, but there's one issue.

'Sugar' is fresh off his dominant unanimous decision victory over Marlon Vera last month at UFC 299. The victory was O'Malley's first bantamweight title defense, and he's already got his next opponent. Not long after defeating 'Chito', he confirmed his intention to face 'The Machine' next.

While O'Malley first wanted to fight Ilia Topuria in Spain, he quickly changed course. Dvalishvili has been dominant as of late and has released several callout videos on social media. Speaking on a recent edition of his TimboSugarShow podcast, O'Malley discussed his next title defense.

On the podcast, O'Malley reiterated his intention to shut up Dvalishvili later this year. The bantamweight champion revealed that he was hoping to book his next fight as soon as possible, but needs the fight to take place in the United States.

O'Malley explained:

"I'm trying to get it booked ASAP. The only issue is, some of the next pay-per-views aren't in the country, and I'm not fighting out of the country. They have other people who have other places. But I'm ready to go, I'm f****** wanting to book a fight ASAP... God I just want to hit Merab with that knee, boom, flatline him."

Check out Sean O'Malley's comments in the video below:

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Merab Dvalishvili releases new skit taking aim at Sean O'Malley

With Sean O'Malley waiting to make his return official, Merab Dvalishvili is hard at work.

While fans could debate if 'The Machine' is that entertaining in the cage, he's become one of the most entertaining outside of it. For the last few months, Dvalishvili has posted various skits on social media.

In a clip uploaded to his Instagram last week, the future title challenger played the role of firefighter in a new skit. In the funny video, Dvalishvili leaps over a wall and eventually scales a house to help a man who looks very similar to O'Malley.

While the video is done in jest, it's clear that the two bantamweights have a lot of time on their hands. With the UFC's schedule currently unknown beyond June, it's unclear when O'Malley and Dvalishvili will compete. Although, fans can expect more humorous skits from the latter in the meantime.