As Merab Dvalishvili gears up for his rematch against Sean O’Malley, ‘The Machine’ has already named his next target.
June 7 will see Dvalishvili step back into the main event spotlight at UFC 316, defending his bantamweight championship against the very man he took it from nine months ago.
News of the rematch generated little excitement among MMA fans, leading virtually everyone to look past O’Malley and speculate on who Dvalishvili may face in the second half of 2025.
Well, wonder not, as Dvalishvili has already named his next challenger.
“I want to be busy. Like I said in another interview, I’ll be happy if I fight two more times this year. Looks like Cory Sandhagen is ready for me,” Dvalishvili told MMA Junkie. “We never fought each other, he’s a great contender. I don’t mind taking another quick turnaround fight, and then fight one more at the end of this year, either in New York or here, my new home in Las Vegas.”
Merab Dvalishvili is struggling to motivate himself for o’Malley rematch
Of course, Dvavlishvili will have to fend off a healed and revitalized O’Malley when the promotion heads back to New Jersey for a pay-per-view event boasting two intriguing title tilts.
“In my professional career this is my first rematch,” Dvalishvili told Michael Bisping. “In Georgia I was fighting pro rules but those fights are not on my official record.
“So I had a rematch before at the beginning of my career. And that doesn’t count because I was so new to the game. Now, it’s the first rematch of my professional career. To be honest with you, I already beat him and it’s hard to get 100 percent motivated, you know?”
