Sean O'Malley vs. Merab Dvalishvili or Sean O'Malley vs. Ilia Topuria - Which fight would you rather see?

[ElLunico]

Merab cause he deserves it and to get it out of the way..

Hopefully Merab doesn't mess it up cause I would love to see Topuria-O'malley

 

[Klippy]

I don't think the Merab fight would be competitive...

 

[Poirierfan]

Merab is awesome and he deserves it, I also deserve to see Topuria ko Sean. Either fight I'm fine with.

 

[rjmbrd]

I was referencing the OP. I wasn't basing my opinion solely on Merab's merits (I realize it looked that way).

Got it, all good

I was also insinuating what O'Malley still needs to do before even considering Super Fights..

O'Malley has only defended his title once. To put him in a Super Fight now without cleaning out his division first is fruitless. Especially to a guy who just won the belt and hasn't defended even once.

To be clear, the UFC doesn't run as a sport, its effectively the circus coming to town.

We know for a fact the UFC is keeping >85% of money generated from fights. We should all generally agree the promoter keeping virtually all the money is disadvantageous to fighters.

Sean should be calling for whatever fights make him the most money. Especially now that he's on PPV share, his only responsibility is to earn the most money with the least risk possible. Anything other then that is karate movie stuff. These guys are exchanging brain damage for peanuts.

So if your not going to give the next shot to Merab fine, but at least give it to someone in the division. Super Fights should be a long way off for both O'Malley and Topuria..imo

We could write a list of why the UFC isn't booked liked a meritocracy and fighters in general have no advocacy.

So long as the UFC runs bookings for whatever they think is best for their business interests, fighters should be doing the same.

 

[WolfPackHunter]

Now that Sean O'Malley is virtually a superstar now, he has plenty of options to who he wants to fight.

Who would you like to Sean O'Malley fight next?

This is the problem with this champ champ crap, Now O'Malley has a decision win vs the #5 ranked bantam let's let him fight right away for the Featherweight title. O'Malley has Merab to fight, Sandhagen to fight for starters while Ilia has an absolute killers row he somehow avoided into a title shot with Ortega, Rodriguez, Holloway, He will likely have to rematch Volk and you have guys like Evloev sitting at #5 ready to make A run at Topuria

 

[Reach4theSky]

Got it, all good




To be clear, the UFC doesn't run as a sport, its effectively the circus coming to town.

We know for a fact the UFC is keeping >85% of money generated from fights. I think its reasonable to suggest we should all generally agree the promoter keeping virtually all the money is disadvantageous to fighters.

Sean should be calling for whatever fights make him the most money. Especially now that he's on PPV share, his only responsibility is to earn the most money with the least risk possible. Anything other then that is karate movie stuff. These guys are exchanging brain damage for peanuts.



We could write a list of why the UFC isn't booked liked a meritocracy and fighters in general have no advocacy.

So long as the UFC runs bookings for whatever they think is best for their business interests, fighters should be doing the same.

Ain't that the truth. I guess I'm still in a fantasy land where I think fighters should fight each other based off where they are in the standings. But you're right, it's about money. Always has been..

 

[NicholasJBasile]

I'd like to see O'Malley get some more big wins at 135 before moving up; at least 2 more big wins.

 

[filthybliss]

merab and then suga builds his resume up from fw to earn that title fight or atleast he defend his bw title a couple more times for the shot.

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

Of course that is taken into account. Anyone picking O'Malley vs. Topuria is choosing super fight over legit matchup within the division. So no one should vote for O'Malley to move up, expect for O'Malley himself and maybe a few of his super fans.

Edit - all these posts all consider what these super fights would do to both divisions:

No it's not, and I think you took my post in the wrong direction, considering your follow up statement didn't actually address it either. Yes, I DO assume the people who picked Sean vs Merab usually considered the effects (even if they don't explicitly say it in the examples you picked like you seen to think they did, but they didn't). But the people who picked Sean vs Ilia make NO mention, not even an implication, of what order fights would be happening, which there are more examples of

 

[Fatback96]

I don’t care for Merab’s fighting style but you have to give it to him. The poor guy was already deserving before the Cejudo fight.

 

[Skarsgard]

For a sport born with no weight classes, that many sherdoggers think it has "too many divisions already", they surely hate when someone goes after the champion from another division...

Omalley vs Topuria of course, i dont like Omalley and i think he loses to Merab 10/10 times, but i also like to be entertained while watching...

Blatant cash grabs aren't entertaining, though.

 

[Psychojoe86]

I see the appeal in topuria, but clearly merab is the match to make.

 

[j18lee]

Fighting up a weight class for a current champion shouldn't be so easy to do. It needs to be earned. Volk earned by beating all the top contenders having multiple title defenses first. O'Malley has not earned it yet with only 1 title defense. You owe it to the division to defend your title at least a few times before chasing other belts.

Yeah no it takes more than repeating that some cage fighter is a superstar for him to be a superstar. LOL at this marketing attempt.

Anyways I think that Topuria sends Popsicle to the hospital on a stretcher. Merab is a more interesting matchup and I would like Merab to have a shot. This switching weight class business is horseshit anyways.

Even though that would be a fun fight I rather see both of them defend their belts first. A lot of hungry and/or game contenders waiting. Merab could very well beat Sean and it's possible Ilia could lose to Volk in a rematch or against someone like Max.

 

[Mike]

Merab. He's boring as shit but he's the number one contender. No more "super fights" unless both guys have multiple defenses and no clear contender.

 

[empsim]

Ignoring everything else, OMalley vs Topuria.

But I want to see them both defending their titles atleast a couple of times first.

 

[DrRodentia]

Merab right now. Not against the Topuria fight with a couple more defenses under their belts. Think it would be an entertaining fight any time, but I want things to make more sense for a minute.

 

[DrRodentia]

For a sport born with no weight classes, that many sherdoggers think it has "too many divisions already", they surely hate when someone goes after the champion from another division...

Omalley vs Topuria of course, i dont like Omalley and i think he loses to Merab 10/10 times, but i also like to be entertained while watching...

Sean has a very real chance against Merab in the first round. I'd even maybe favor him in the first. But from the second on, shit changes.

 

[CorninginChristianburg]

I think Sean destroys Merab. And I love love love Merab. He's a nightmare matchup for Merab. He's tall and lanky so a lot of the traditional takedowns and holds are much harder to execute. He's a kickboxer, so he is used to backing up and keeping range, shots will have to come from way far out and will be low percentage. I think Sean pieces Merab up.

Topuria for me isn't the best matchup for Sean, although I'd favor him. Really any top featherweight I'd favor against Sean. The counter to kickboxing isn't wrestling it's boxing. Boxers are shorter than kickboxers, they walk forward, they close the space, they use good head movement and usually carry a higher guard. That tendency to be shorter, walk forward and close the space/hold a high guard is what makes wrestling so effective against boxing. Ilia is a hard worker and he's learning quickly, but fundamentally speaking he's a wrestler with tremendous power and great atheticism. But I think in terms of technique, how I imagine him dealing with a long ranger kickboxer, I would trust volk, max, yair, allen, even Calvin Kattar all to handle that type of situation better than Topuria. And again, due to the wrestling background, I say this as a huge Topuria fanboy. I don't know that he has the discipline to keep range, check kicks, move his head, and stick to the 1-2.

I think back to the way Calvin Kattar absolutely dismantled Giga Chikadze. I think that's what would happen if Sean had to fight featherweights. And I think that's the way he goes down. And no one would be happier to see him get wrestled to death by Merab. I've just seen that matchup too many times, I'm pretty confident that's not what happens. I think it's more likely that he accidentally catches Sean and knocks him out. And I don't think that will happen because he hasn't scored a knockout on the feet since Raufeon Stots.

 

[13Seconds]

Merab definitely deserves it. I’m the odd ball who wants O’Malley vs sandhagen though

I haven't seen anyone who doesn't want Suga/Sandhagen. It's just that (as you said) Merab deserves it now. Cory can fight the winner.

 

[HHJ]

Of course Merab. Natural order.