Sean O’Malley didn’t think he was in serious danger when Merab dvalishvili took the front headlock during the grappling exchange in the third round, but the fight ended seconds afterwards.
For the former bantamweight champion, this was a great sequence after being forced to tap out for the first time in his career. A few days after the fight, O’Malley and his coach Tim Welch discussed obedience and confidence that he showed grabbing by the neck after he tried to maintain his advantage in a more favorable position last September.
“It was weird because I didn’t feel it would get tight,” O’Malley said of his submission on his YouTube channel. “He felt like he was stagnant in that position like he was, and it was just fast and solid.
“I was like, oh, f*ck. I didn’t realize how much time I had left. I hope f*cking was on my guard, not trying to get up and make something happen. There’s no excuse.”
O’Malley could do nothing but congratulate Georgian on the well done work to end the fight in a rematch after fighting dvalishvili on the decision to first meet.
Less than nine months between battles, O’Malley made the necessary adjustments and praised Dvalishvili for becoming even stronger for the rematch in some way.
“He felt strongly last time, but this time he just felt very strong,” O’Malley said. “He’s the biggest bantamweight ever.”
The outcome did not go down his path, but O’Malley acknowledges his point of view after feeling this loss was very different from his first encounter with Dvalishvili.
Part of that will leave healthy with O’Malley. His body says it feels really good for now, unlike this September fight when he had to undergo hip surgery right away.
This time, O’Malley knows he still needs to make the necessary changes before he can compete again, but he is healthy and wealthy and his life can be much worse.
“So for me, I can go through that kind of thing and roll Monday the next Sunday. “I still feel very happy. I feel a little disappointed with the outcome. I feel annoyed, but there is no sadness within me.
“I imagine 14 days ago, Elena is sleeping on my chest, (my wife) mites next to me, my eyes closed, I imagine things. When he locked up the guillotine, I might have been able to do something, I couldn’t do about it now.
With consecutive losses to Dvalishvili in his record, O’Malley is clearly planning to move to another opponent for his next fight, but he is not even interested in discussing it yet.
One of O’Malley’s friends on the podcast proposed a fight with Umar Nurmagomedov.
That may be interesting, but more than anything, O’Malley says he’s just ready to thaw, and he fights again about the enemy and his toe timeline.
“It’s good not to think about the fight right now,” O’Malley said. “I just want to cool down for a few weeks and it’s even better (so that I don’t fight right now). Even if the UFC says they know what we’re trying to do, I still don’t want to know.