Subscribe
Follow Us
Aljamain Sterling defended his Bantamweight Championship successfully against Henry Cejudo in the main event at UFC 288. Following the fight, Sterling called for his next opponent as Sean O'Malley made an appearance in the ring for a heated face-off. Shortly after, Dana White and the UFC confirmed talks of a title fight between Aljamain Sterling and Sean O'Malley is targeted for UFC 292. Sean O'Malley is ranked at No. 4 in the Bantamweight Division, so the fight has a lot of people in the MMA world questioning the move. While it's certainly the biggest fight to make as far as selling a pay-per-view goes, there's one man waiting in the wings for his shot at the title.
Merab Dvalishvili is the No. 1 ranked Bantamweight contender with a record of 9-2 in the UFC and just came off a dominant performance over Petr Yan in a five-round main event. The only problem, however, is that Merab Dvlishvili and Aljamain Sterling are longtime training partners inside the cage and best friends outside of the cage. They share a brotherly bound that began when Sterling took Dvalishvili under his wing at Serra Longo MMA, even letting the Gerogian crash on his couch in the early days. Merab refuses to fight his “brother” and will gladly wait until Sterling's time as champ is up to get his own crack at the title.
It leaves Dvalishvili in a peculiar position. With how dominant Aljamain Sterling has looked at the top, it could be some time before Dvalishvili get's his chance at the title. He's currently eyeing the possibility of surgery on a broken hand, so Dvalishvili still has some time to rest before thinking about his next opponent. However, the UFC is known to push fighters into being active, so there's a number of possibilities for Dvalishvili's next move.
Henry Cejudo
There was minor speculation for Cejudo's retirement after he removed his gloves in the UFC 288 octagon, but Cejudo has since gone on to say his time is far from up. He called out Merab Dvalishvili following the fight and said he would welcome a bout with the No. 1 contender. This fight makes a ton of sense on paper, but it doesn't mean much for either guy if they can come up with a win. It's a very dangerous fight for Merab and he'll still be the No. 1 Contender if he wins. If Cejudo were to win, he'd eventually just have to face Aljamain Sterling once again. This, of course, all shakes up if Sean O'Malley can win the belt at UFC 292. Cejudo has also flirted with the idea of moving up to 145 lbs and saving himself from the weight cut. Either way, this would be an insane wrestling matchup if we were to see it play out.
Cory Sandhagen
Article Continues Below
Cory Sandhagen turned in the best performance of his career in his last fight when he outclassed Chito Vera in all areas of their fight. He called for a fight with Dvalishvili following his win, but respected the fact that Merab was next in line for the title shot. Since Merab will wait, this fight could make a ton of sense to make while the championship situation plays out. A win for Dvalishvili would further cement him as the undeniable No. 1 contender, but a win for Sandhagen would immediately put him in the title discussion. It's surprising these two haven't fought yet, but it would be an interesting clash of styles to see the wrestling of Dvalishvili against the creativity of Sandhagen.
Sean O'Malley
Sean O'Malley is slated to fight Sterling for the belt at UFC 292 after his viral appearance in the octagon following Sterling's last win. For the UFC, O'Malley is a huge draw and sells a ton of tickets to his fights. It makes the most sense he's getting this title shot with Dvalishvili rehabbing. Given O'Malley could beat Sterling, he'd likely have to defend the belt in a rematch against Sterling immediately after. From there, Merab Dvalishvili is the next man Sean O'Malley must face. O'Malley believes that Dvalishvili will be at the top of the division for a very long time, so he knows that a fight between them is imminent. If O'Malley were to fail in his title fight, the next most logical thing to do would be to book Dvalishvili vs. O'Malley. Of course, we're speaking in hypotheticals, but O'Malley could have an easier time against the striking of Sterling as opposed to the wrestling of Dvalishvili.
It's a unique situation that Merab Dvalishvili finds himself in. He'll have a number of fighters to choose from once he returns from injury, but the most interesting aspect will be to see whether Dvalishvili would ever face Sterling if his back was against the wall. Follow our UFC news for more fight content and breaking announcements.
