UFC bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley is rumored to be fighting No. 1 contender Merab Dvalishvili at the Las Vegas Sphere in September and the No. 2 contender, Cory Sandhagen,has some thoughts on their potential match-up.
“It’s going to be a hell of a fight for the both of them, to be honest,” Sandhagen said on a recent episode of The MMA Hour. “I definitely know that Merab’s biggest issue in fighting is clearing that gap. He isn’t the fastest guy in the world. He doesn’t have a build that clears the gap really well. He kind of gets people tired and then that gap becomes a lot easier to close. But O’Malley is one of the best at hitting people in that void and in that space in between me and you."
He continued, “If Merab can eat it or recover or whatever, I think that he can run his game plan,” Sandhagen continued, “And then that might happen again, and then Merab will run his game plan, and then that might happen again. I think that they both have very specific ways to win this fight, and I think it’s going to be a hell of a fight for the both of them. But Merab also has shown to be a little bit chinny in those spots, and Sean definitely hits hard as s—t.”
Sandhagen will most likely be the next opponent for whoever wins the fight and he's picked who he's rooting for.
“We’re rooting for Sean O’Malley. We want O’Malley to win,” Sandhagen said. “As long as he’s not going to go off and do some stupid boxing fight with that guy, or as long as he’s not going to try to go up to 145. Don’t do that, Sean. Just stay in the division, try to clear us all out if you can. But don’t start doing all that stuff, man. To me, again, I’ll be real candid, I think that there’s a tactic with some people that they take where they go high-risk, high-reward fights. No one wants to take high-risk, low-reward fights. And you can make the argument that if you go up a weight class and fight Ilia [Topuria], that’s a very tough fight, of course. It’s equally as tough if not tougher than anyone in this division as well, to be honest."
The fight has not been confirmed by the UFC yet, but if it does go forward, it will take place on Sept. 14 to celebrate Mexican Independence Day.