sees many possibilities for this including one he believes the UFC bantamweight champion is actively avoiding.
Dvalishvili defeated O'Malley at last September to capture the title, and it appeared his first challenger would be the undefeated – currently ranked No. 2 at 135 pounds in the – who was present at the fight. However, Dvalishvili was hesitant to name Nurmagomedov as his preferred challenger. when there were rumors that Nurmagomedov had booked a fight with him instead (the matchup ultimately failed).
On his TimboSugarShow In the podcast, O'Malley accuses Dvalishvili of being the one who is afraid.
“Umar wants to fight Merab in January,” O’Malley said. “Peter [Yan] wants to fight Merab in March. I want to fight Merab in April. Merab is completely afraid of Umar. He doesn't want to fight Umar. Now he says he wants to fight Petr, he wanted to fight me.
“Petr got 50-45 from Merab. 50-45.”
O'Malley mentioned comes from Yan's brilliant performance against at last Saturday. Like O'Malley, Yan is a former bantamweight champion, and like O'Malley, he lost a unanimous decision to Dvalishvili when they first fought in March 2023.
Dvalishvili praised Yan after Figueiredo's win and hinted that there will be a rematch at UFC 313 in March.
Dvalishvili had also previously mentioned that he would like to face O'Malley again, although that matchup is currently the least likely for the champion as O'Malley is currently recovering from hip surgery.
O'Malley is eager to return but has yet to resume full training.
“I can’t wrestle yet,” O’Malley said. “I can move, I can punch a little mitts, fucking shadow box, box holm a little, I can’t wrestle at all yet. Probably about three weeks before drilling can begin. I gotta fucking take care of this nut. Hitting mitts, moving around, that's no problem. It’s the arguments and shit that hurt.”
