Merab Dvalishvili already convincingly beat Sean O’Malley. But if they fight again, Dvalishvili is confident he can do even better.

It took five rounds for Dvalishvili to best O’Malley and win the bantamweight championship this past September at UFC 306. While O’Malley has disputed the result, he spent the majority of the contest defending against Dvalishvili’s relentless wrestling, so there was little controversy surrounding the scoring.

Dvalishvili’s first title defense is yet to be booked, though he and O’Malley have both spoken about the possibility of an immediate rematch. The champion gave his reasoning for a second O’Malley fight on an episode of The Ariel Helwani Show.

“I’m in, 100 percent,” Dvalishvili said. “When I saw the first time he wants to do rematch, I said let’s fight in November. Even though I’m here, I’m working with UFC, I can fight him—I know he’s not ready now, but that’s why I told him let’s fight in November. We already fought, and I know his game, his power, everything, no problem. I can fight him back and now I will not kiss him, I will finish him, and I will take care of him. I go easy on him the first time, so now this time I will destroy him.”

O’Malley is unlikely to return to action soon, with the fighter recently announcing that hip surgery could keep him sidelined until summer 2025. At best, he hopes to be back in March.

Should they eventually rematch, Dvalishvili vowed to not take it easy on O’Malley and promised a finish.

“Actually, I wanted to finish him fifth round, but [referee] Herb Dean, when I took [O’Malley] down, I was waiting,” Dvalishvili said. “Sean was supposed to move and I either choke him or punch him hard and try to finish him, Herb Dean told me to work and I let go. I changed the position and he told me again, ‘You’ve got to work,’ and then I let go, what should I do, and I let him get up. Then I took a long time to take him down again in the fifth round, otherwise I was going to finish him fifth round, but Herb Dean made me let go.”

“This time, I’m going to try finish him early. I was trying to finish him fifth round, but it doesn’t work out that way. This time, I will finish him early. Now he’s saying he wants to finish me or he will do better, OK, that’s interesting me more if he will do it. If people are interested, I’m in.”

A Dvalishvili-O’Malley rematch became more likely following rumors that undefeated contender Umar Nurmagomedov is in talks to fight Song Yadong rather than challenge for the title. Nurmagomedov was in attendance at UFC 306 seemingly to build to a matchup, but Dvalishvil’s team has been reluctant to anoint Nurmagomedov as the No. 1 option, a situation that has generated criticism.

Dvalishvili wants it to be clear that he will fight Nurmagomedov or anyone else if that’s what the matchmakers call for.

“I have no problem,” Dvalishvili said. “Whoever the UFC will offer me, I will fight. I never choose my opponent, and I’m going to continue same. I never have an option like this to say I’m going to fight him or him, I was never in this situation before and I don’t think any different now.”

TOP STORIES

Sigh. Tatiana Suarez is out of her UFC 310 fight against Virna Jandiroba.

Giant. Francis Ngannou’s coach Eric Nicksick breaks down the heavyweight star’s PFL debut.

Rankings. Does Ngannou regain the No. 1 spot at heavyweight after his win?

Spoiler? Is Max Holloway about to bring an abrupt end to Ilia Topuria’s title reign?

Imitation Game. Conor McGregor calls out Ilia Topuria for biting his style.

Tapes. Kamaru Usman and Belal Muhammad are both saying they had a physical confrontation that was filmed, but is yet to be released.

Air Khamzat. Khamzat Chimaev shows off his hops on the first episode of UFC 308 Embedded.

Hate. Bruno “Blindado” Silva really, really, really cannot stand Chris Weidman.

Why Not? ONE Championship fighter “wins” boxing match with extremely illegal head kick.

VIDEO STEW

Mike Heck chats with Coach Nicksick.

Get to know the slappers.

“Mighty Mouse” breaks down Saturday’s main event.

FLAVOR IN YOUR EAR

Severe MMA. Sean Sheehan and Graeme McDonnell break down PFL Battle of the Giants and take a victory lap over Paul Hughes’ impressive performance.

Anik & Florian. Jon Anik and Kenny Florian chat with Daniel Cormier and Dan Ige, plus coaches Eric Nicksick and Ray Longo.

SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Back to the ring?

PFL has a star in Paul Hughes.

Hard work, but someone’s gotta do it.

Underground.

Why not?

Ageless.

Pain.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Are there any UFC champions right now properly building up their rightful contenders? Dvalishvili is playing coy with all the Nurmagomedov talk, Julianna Peña is trolling Kayla Harrison, Ilia Topuria is feuding with Belal Muhammad (?) and barely hyping up the fight that’s just days away, and let’s not even get started on Jon Jones.

These folks at the top have earned their spots, but all of this anti-promotion gets exhausting after a while.

EXIT POLL

If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @AlexanderKlee or @JedKMeshew on Twitter and let us know about it. Also, follow MMAFighting on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and like us on Facebook.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Matchmaking
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Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Ilia Topuria is just days away from the biggest fight of his career, the UFC 308 main event Featherweight title fight opposite Max Holloway scheduled for this weekend (Sat., Oct., 26, 2024) inside Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabib, United Arab Emirates. Despite that serious challenge on his doorstep, Topuria is plenty willing to discuss other future plans.

Recently, Topuria has found himself beefing with the Nurmagomedov fight team. When the Spanish knockout artist talked about his eventual goal of moving to 155-pounds and challenging champion Islam Makhachev, he instead landed in a feud with that entire team! Bellator Lightweight kingpin Usman Nurmagomedov, as well as former UFC fighter Abubakar Nurmagomedov, were quick to lash out online, and Topuria has largely invited the conflict. It even led to his recent war of words with Belal Muhammad!

In a recent interview, Topuria elaborated further on his feelings about that camp and its leader, Khabib Nurmagomedov.

“Look, one thing I respect about Khabib, the guy is really super respectful,” Topuria began. “He never says anything about anybody, people talk a lot, he never says anything … I’ve mentioned Islam and all the cousins come out. They’ve never knocked anyone out, they get caught using steroids, they’re super cheaters, and suddenly they jump. The only thing it tells me is that they have a damaged nervous system from taking so many steroids, because that’s the first thing that gets damaged.

“Threatening a fighter with ‘When we see each other I am going to hit you.’ I dedicate my life to fighting. Let them be a little more creative. I don’t know what to say. Their best is Islam.”

It’s difficult to say whether or not a Topuria vs. Makhachev fight will materialize. “El Matador” is still a fairly new champion with plenty of challengers even if he retains against Holloway, whereas Makhachev could fight for Welterweight gold in the near future given his own defenses. Unless Umar Nurmagomedov jumps up a weight class or there’s a run-in at the UFC PI, it seems likely this feud remains online for the time being.

Insomnia

It’s good to hear a fan being wildly creepy in a male fighter’s DMs for a change. Equality!

I cannot wait to see the wrestling exchanges in Whittaker vs. Khamzat.

This feels like it should be an alternate location in the next UFC game.

UFC doesn’t really have a history of refusing their athletes the ability to compete in BJJ. Anti-Mokaev bias?

Anthony Hernandez has a bunch of neat looks to his game. The spinning heel kick to the thigh also looked painful!

Kicking off the fence is a weird way to defend the ten-finger guillotine, but it’s proven to work of a few times now.

Russian bear wrestling!

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Listening to fighter’s break down their own fights is always interesting.

Asahisa seems like such a nightmare to strike with, such unusual angles and little marching steps in these kick combinations.

This beating lasted a long time …

Random Land

Children’s stories win the day.

Midnight Music: Hip-hop, today!

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Kamaru Usman is teasing the release of his interview with Belal Muhammad, as long as the UFC champion holds up his end of the bargain.

Muhammad, on his own podcast, recently said that an appearance on Usman and Henry Cejudo’s Pound 4 Pound show went off the rails and that he “verbally broke down Usman” before Usman “tried to get physical.”

According to Usman, Muhammad was one of several guests on that episode, which was recorded in Las Vegas, and he wanted to show respect to the current welterweight titleholder by having him on. He didn’t explain exactly what Muhammad meant by his comments, but said there are plans to release the footage if Muhammad still holds the belt after he fights Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310 on Dec. 7.

“In typical Belal fashion, of course, Belal did Belal,” Usman said on his podcast. “So the interview didn’t go as planned. It wasn’t that great of an interview anyways, it wasn’t even that long, but it went the way that it went. That was the biggest moment of his life because that’s all that he seems to want to talk about. I haven’t mentioned it all, because it wasn’t that eventful, but that’s all he seems to want to talk about all the time.

“We hear you, fans, and we will definitely drop the interview if we get really, really low on content, I mean, why not? To be honest, it’s the biggest moment of his life, that’s why he talks about it every second. And if we do drop the interview, it will be the second-biggest moment of his life because it gives him relevance, it gives him a little bit of clout. ‘Look, I was able to maybe tangle with the champ a little bit,’ which wasn’t that eventful. But if he’s able to get through Shavkat Rakhmonov, and we run super, super low on content, why not?”

MMA Fighting’s Damon Martin recently spoke to Muhammad, who said he enjoyed meeting Usman face to face, though he didn’t reveal exactly what went down between them.

“I love anybody that I’m going to get a rise out of because you can tell he takes it personally,” Muhammad said. “He takes everything personally. You’re a champion and you lost your belt, now you’re on a losing streak, now you’ve got that guy that’s better than you, the guy that has the belt, the guy that’s in your division on top and he’s on your podcast that you invited him to.

“Some people, their egos are too big. They can’t sit there and be a professional about it. I think with him, it’s like he’s so used to going back and forth with Colby [Covington], who’s not really good at talking. He’s just stupid, he’s not clever with anything. So when you’ve got somebody that’s intelligent that can treat you and make you look dumb, it’s like, ‘Dang, he got the belt and he got me with words?’ I need to do something to change the rhythm of this whole thing.”

Muhammad and Usman are no strangers to conflict, with Muhammad naming Usman as a potential challenger after defeating Leon Edwards for the welterweight title at UFC 304. Though Usman has lost three straight—including a pair of title fight losses to Edwards—he was a decorated champion in his own right, having successfully defended the 170-pound belt five consecutive times.

However, the UFC eventually announced that the undefeated Rakhmonov would be Muhammad’s first challenger, and it’s a matchup that has Usman intrigued—and ready to face the winner.

“It’s a tremendous fight and I guess rightfully so that’s the fight to make because Shavkat’s a new face,” Usman said. “A guy that’s 18-0, 18 finishes, and has really done the work that you need him to do with the opponents that you put in front of him. So that fight makes sense. We’ve been waiting just for an announcement, just so we can get some movement in that welterweight division and now it seems like we’re finally going to be able to get some clarity.

“As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve got my eye on them. Either one of them, I’ve got my eye on them. Because at some point, either one of them is going to have to come have a conversation with me and I won’t be doing the talking. I’ll be doing the talking in a different way.”

As far as Muhammad is concerned, he still looks forward to the possibility of fighting Usman in the future.

“I hope he does go out there and he fights one of these guys and gets a win because he is a big name in the division, he is a former champion that people look up to and think he’s one of the best to ever do it at welterweight,” Muhammad told MMA Fighting. “For sure, I love fights with build-up like that where I can go back and forth with somebody, making fun of them. There is something there, right?”

Regarding the podcast controversy, Muhammad added, “I think Usman buried it in his backyard or something like that. Somebody needs to dig it up and post it, I don’t know where they’re going with it.”

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Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic have accomplished a lot in their UFC careers, which is a pivotal feature of the UFC 309 poster.

The UFC dropped the new poster on Monday, which features headliners Jones, the heavyweight champion, and former titleholder and challenger Stipe Miocic. The event takes place Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Check out the poster below.

The matchup was initially set for UFC 295 this past November, but Jones withdrew due to injury. “Bones” makes his first appearance in 20 months since capturing the heavyweight strap with a first-round submission of Ciryl Gane in the main event of UFC 285 in March 2023.

The layoff is even longer for Miocic, who returns to the octagon for the first time since losing the heavyweight title to Francis Ngannou at UFC 260 in March 2021. Miocic seeks his first win in over four years.

In the co-main event, Charles Oliveira and Michael Chandler meet for the second time in a five-round lightweight contest.

Check out the current UFC 309 lineup below.

Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic – heavyweight title fight

Charles Oliveira vs. Michael Chandler

Viviane Araujo vs. Karine Silva

Bo Nickal vs. Paul Craig

Chris Weidman vs. Eryk Anders

Nikita Krylov vs. Azamat Murzakanov

Jonathan Martinez vs. Marcus McGhee

Jim Miller vs. Damon Jackson

Mickey Gall vs. Ramiz Brahimaj

Bassil Hafez vs. Oban Elliott

Veronica Hardy vs. Eduarda Moura

Charlie Campbell vs. Mauricio Ruffy

Lucas Almeida vs. David Onama

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