WASHINGTON – Former UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili will be keeping a close eye on a couple of fights at UFC Freedom 250, but the one that he has the most interest in involves a former opponent.
Fellow former bantamweight titleholder Sean O’Malley steps into the octagon on the White House lawn against Aiemann Zahabi in an important fight for the division. Dvalishvili (21-5 MMA, 14-3 UFC) is expected to compete for the title next in a trilogy bout against champion Petr Yan, but the winner between O’Malley (19-3 MMA, 11-3 UFC) and Zahabi (14-2 MMA, 8-2 UFC) will be on the shortlist for consideration.
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Dvalishvili will be cheering on O’Malley, the man he defeated to become champion, but won’t be disappointed if Zahabi gets his hand raised Sunday.
“I always root for my past opponents,” Dvalishvili told MMA Junkie. “Like, I’m always rooting for Sean O’Malley now, but Zahabi is not easy opponent. He has a great seven-fight win streak. Like I said, I’m rooting for Sean, if he wins, it’s good, but if Zahabi wins, also it won’t be bad for the division. He will have an eight-fight win streak and he will fight the winner of me and Petr Yan. So, he could be my next opponent. I’m excited to watch this fight.”
O’Malley was extremely confident in his chances of getting the win on the South Lawn, as he likened Zahabi to a punching bag during pre-fight media day. Dvalishvili knows all about O’Malley’s trash talk, but doesn’t expect the fight to be as easy as “Sugar” thinks.
“It won’t be this much easy against Zahabi, but he can win,” Dvalishvili said. “I think Sean can win this fight. If not, then I tell you, we will have a new contender in the division, and hopefully I can fight him next.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Ex-champ weighs-in on UFC White House’s Sean O’Malley vs. Aiemann Zahabi
