Sean O’Malley describes himself as a “sniper” within the cage and the UFC males’s bantamweight champion may have an extra goal at which to purpose when he places his elite putting to the check in opposition to Merab Dvalishvili in the primary occasion of UFC 306 on Sept. 14 on the group’s distinctive Sphere card in Las Vegas.
Dana White ripped into Dvalishvili in August after the No. 1 contender at 135 kilos posted a video of himself receiving stitches for a small lower he sustained above his left eye lower than one month forward of his first UFC title struggle alternative.
“I’m 100 per cent going to open up that lower, whether or not it’s healed or not,” O’Malley stated throughout a latest interview with veteran fight sports activities reporter Kevin Iole.
White questioned why Dvalishvili would need an correct striker like O’Malley understanding a few doable vulnerability.
“I don’t know the way a lot it will probably heal,” O’Malley stated of his opponent’s lower. “I’ve by no means had any dangerous cuts so I’m unsure, however that’s the left aspect of his face; this proper hand doesn’t miss. I’ll most likely by accident hit his nostril earlier than I hit that lower. That nostril simply form of takes up 85 per cent of his face, so I’m going to attempt to get round his nostril to get to that lower.
“Dana referring to him as (silly) was fairly correct. I imply the dude’s simply not that sensible of a man.”
O’Malley lands 7.63 vital strikes per minute at 62 per cent accuracy. Dvalishvili doesn’t get hit too usually — solely absorbing 2.37 vital strikes per minute — as a result of he’s a dominant wrestler who lands a whopping 6.43 takedowns per quarter-hour of cage time.
“I’m going to search out his chin,” O’Malley added. “There’s no query in my thoughts. Will I hit him on the chin? A number of occasions… if he can take it a number of occasions.”
Dvalishvili has received 10 consecutive fights relationship again to 2018, together with consecutive wins over former champions Jose Aldo, Pert Yan and Henry Cejudo. O’Malley is coming off his first profitable title defence, when he received a unanimous choice over Marlon Vera at UFC 299 in March.