News Merab Dvalishvili vs Sean O’Malley 2 announced for UFC 316 in New Jersey on June 7

[NextGen]

It's not difficult to see why the UFC did this. Many of their current champs don't / won't sell PPVs. They are desperate for Pereira and O'Malley to win the rematch.

It's strictly a business move.

 

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

How does he get a rematch when he hasn't won since the loss, its not like he was a long time champ, he had 1 title defense lol. He needs to get a few wins first.

 

[RockyLockridge]

Ugh. Sean got dominated bell to bell. This is completely unnecessary

Its the only move they could make now because they decided to give the last contender a fight they didn't deserve yet, and now we have no challengers when we could have easily just did figgy in January and Umar in June

 

[Darkavius]

Sure O malley is probably gonna lose again, maybe even worse than the first fight but he didnt get 50-45'd blanketed in first fight. He looked off and even from walkout people said he looked off, no excuses for him Merab won but people did think that. He started slow and ended up winning two rounds later in the fight including hurting Merab with a body kick in 5th. So if he started faster and won an early round he could have won the fight.

Thats how you sell it. If he got 50-44'd, no moment in the fight did he do anything then yeah trying to sell it would be tough but you can sell this as an off night and he still got a couple rounds on Merab, maybe rematch will be different.

So the selling point is O'Malley won 1 or 2 rounds? If this were like Pena vs. Nunes or GSP vs. Serra it would make sense or if it was closer like GSP vs. Hendricks but this fight was not that close. Unless O'Malley is planning to be done fighting soon I think this is a bad decision by him. There's always a puncher's chance but does anyone logically think Merab loses 3 rounds to O'Malley?

 

[Urluberluu]

not very hype but there is not lot of real contender right now in the division , Merab beat everybody he is the bantamweight goat

 

[Blastbeat]

i saw Bautista mentioned earlier in the thread
this just proves the point that I and many others made after the Aldo fight.
guy has a 7 win streak currently. but he was so fucking dull in his last fight with Aldo. he wall-n-stalled for a questionable split decision. who the hell wants to see him fight for a belt? not me, thats for sure.

 

[188912345]

They seem pretty desperate to get an American champ. Strickland, Poirier, Stipe, and now O'Malley with an undeserved shot at the title. Perhaps Gaethje will get another one as well.

 

[Misanthropist]

100% UFC told Merab to go easy on the wrestling to keep the gullible fans entertained

 

[Joshua Judd]

This is truly insane lol. Sandhagen, Figgy, Yan, Pantoja, dude even Umar has more of a right to a rematch coming out of a 2-2 entertaining fight. Does Sean even have enough pull with the casual fan base to warrant this?

 

[JustforBROCK]

Just calling out the low effort troll and using the phrase entirely wrong gave me a good chuckle. Might make others do the same. Sorry you're in your feelings about it.

What? Are you fucking retarded? Do you know how to fucking read? Holy hell.

 

[markg171]

This is a new low for the UFC. Dude had 1 title defense, lost a lopsided fight. Hasn't even fought since losing, and gets a rematch? It's laughable if not outright stupid.

Ugh. Sean got dominated bell to bell. This is completely unnecessary

It was 48-47 lol.

(Yan should've got the title shot)

 

[chimpoehurricane]

Ufc gift title shots lol I can't blame them. Ank and ha guy who cried vs Leon are boring af

Ufc is borin atm

 

[chimpoehurricane]

How does he get a rematch when he hasn't won since the loss, its not like he was a long time champ, he had 1 title defense lol. He needs to get a few wins first.

Have you seen the ww and lhw champ? Can we get more boring cards?

 

[MisfitsBR]

oh yeah, the old sit down and wait strategy to earn a unearned rematch title shot

I still hate the hour I spent watching Grasso x Bullet and Suga x Merab in a roll

 

[JBJ was here]

So the selling point is O'Malley won 1 or 2 rounds? If this were like Pena vs. Nunes or GSP vs. Serra it would make sense or if it was closer like GSP vs. Hendricks but this fight was not that close. Unless O'Malley is planning to be done fighting soon I think this is a bad decision by him. There's always a puncher's chance but does anyone logically think Merab loses 3 rounds to O'Malley?

It's even more bizarre because the only round O'Malley clearly won was the fifth round when it was clear he needed a finish to win and that a 10-8 might not even get the draw, i.e., the only round he clearly won was a round where Merab was fighting not to get finished or lose 10-8. You might as well say he deserves a rematch because he made weight.

 

[Darkavius]

It's even more bizarre because the only round O'Malley clearly won was the fifth round when it was clear he needed a finish to win and that a 10-8 might not even get the draw, i.e., the only round he clearly won was a round where Merab was fighting not to get finished or lose 10-8. You might as well say he deserves a rematch because he made weight.

While I agree with you this match does have one thing going for it that JustforBrock mentioned. This is do or die for O'Malley. If he loses he is done as a title contender unless Merab moves up in weight. If O'Malley wins though the division is at a stand still until 2026.

 

[richardjohnson]

This might be worse than Masvidal getting the Usman rematch

 

[Portland8242]

With how bad the UFC is starved of any starpower I bet they're gonna offer Merab a huge bag under the table to throw the fight.

 

[TriangleMonkey]

The desperation for a new star is real

 

[Psyentic]

Not interested in Malley getting destroyed again.