UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley has expressed interest in defending his title against a number of fighters, excluding Merab Dvalishvili, and voiced his long-term goal to stage a boxing bout against three-division boxing champion Gervonta Davis, revealing his aspirations to replicate the revenue success of the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor fight.
Sean O’Malley has expressed interest in defending his newly won UFC bantamweight title against multiple individuals, but it seems that Merab Dvalishvili is not among them. O’Malley has stated, “I knocked out Merab on August 19, the same night I knocked out Aljamain Sterling. They’re the same, they hold hands. They’re the same person. I knocked them both out August 19, so we’ll see what happens. At the end of the day, I’ll out there and knock out whoever they put in front of me.” O’Malley captured the UFC bantamweight title on August 19 with a second-round knockout of Sterling which catapulted him onto the UFC stardom stage. Subsequently, O’Malley laid out his plans for his first title defense, articulating his intention to rematch Marlon “Chito” Vera, who had previously defeated him.
Dvalishvili is a teammate and long-time friend of Sterling, and is also among the top-ranked bantamweights worldwide. Despite his impressive winning streak of nine consecutive UFC fights, Dvalishvili’s reluctance to fight Sterling impaired his title opportunities before UFC 292. A few weeks following his win, O’Malley is adhering to his original plan but is also considering a plethora of other interesting names in the 135-pound division. O’Malley relayed, “I called out the Chito fight before the fight even happened. I said, ‘Hey, Chito goes out there and wins, I go out there and win, I’m fighting Chito for my first title defense,’ and that’s what happened. That’s what’s going to happen next in my eyes, that’s what I want.”
He continued, “Like I said, they’re in the fight business. Me vs. Chito is the biggest fight in the bantamweight division to make. Me versus anyone is going to be a big fight because I’m a pretty big name. But me vs. Chito, me vs. Cory [Sandhagen], me vs. Umar [Nurmagomedov] are some of the biggest fight potentials out there for me.” One other matchup that is garnering O’Malley’s attention, though not immediate, is a significant boxing duel against three-division boxing champion Gervonta Davis. He sees Davis, an undefeated boxer, as a future superstar and believes they could join forces in the future to stage their own version of the Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor mega-fight.
O’Malley reiterated, “We’re both undefeated boxers. You go out there and you see who’s the best. Gervonta beat Ryan Garcia and it’s just a fight that I’d like in the future.” Claiming the match is not immediately necessary, he suggests they build towards this with continued wins in their individual leagues, culminating in a significant event akin to the Conor-Floyd matchup. He expressed his plan to the UFC executive, Hunter Campbell, and has been given encouragement to continue pursuing this idea. O’Malley understands that while Davis may not be big enough just yet, in a couple of years, chances are high, and he is willing to take those chances.