Sean O’Malley vows he’s much better prepared in his second training camp for UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili.
O’Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) will look to avenge his bantamweight title loss to Dvalishvili at UFC 306 when the pair rematch in the June 7 main event at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. O’Malley entered their first fight with a hip injury that later required surgery.
Now that O’Malley was healthy enough to go through an entire training camp to fine tune his grappling, he sees himself stopping Dvalishvili’s (19-4 MMA, 12-2 UFC) offense.
“Every training camp you go through, you get a little bit better,” O’Malley said on “The Jim Rome Show.” “This training camp has been a long training camp. It’s been just a lot of grappling. That’s all we’ve been doing. When you’re doing that five, six days a week, you’re going to improve.
“We’ve been in camp for a long time now. I think we did about 12, 13 weeks of focusing on Merab, focusing on getting better in that area. It’s been a long camp, and I’ve definitely improved. I’ve got to break ‘The Machine.’ I’ve got to beat him. I’ve got to win the positions. I know I can beat Merab.”
O’Malley dismissed the notion that he needs an early finish to win.
“He’s open to getting knocked out,” O’Malley said. “I’m very confident that I can put his lights out, I’m also confident I can beat him in a five-round fight. There’s definitely a possibility of me putting his lights out, but I’m ready to go for 25 minutes. I’m ready to have to dig deep.”
