Whereas Dana White isn’t in any respect in rematching Music Yadong and Henry Cejudo after an eye fixed poke lower their UFC Seattle primary occasion brief, he does have his eye on one other rematch which some might argue is simply as pointless.
Merab Dvalishvili not too long ago defended his bantamweight title towards Umar Nurmagomedov, defeating the Dagestani fighter through a transparent lower choice. No want for a rematch towards Umar, Dvalishvili stated in a current interview. As an alternative he was trying to rematch Petr Yan or Sean O’Malley, and he believed the UFC was on the identical web page with him about it.
Now White appears to be confirming Dvalishvili’s feedback. Throughout the UFC Seattle post-fight press convention, the UFC CEO fielded a query from the press asking whether or not they have been contemplating O’Malley as Dvalishvili’s subsequent opponent, regardless of there being different attention-grabbing match-ups out there.
“They wish to struggle one another,” White stated of O’Malley and Dvalishvili. “And I believe folks wish to see it.”
There’s little question that O’Malley stays the largest star at bantamweight, and once you transfer the needle you then’re by no means too distant from a title shot. “Suga” hasn’t fought since shedding the belt to Merab at UFC 306 in September 2024 — he subsequently underwent hip surgical procedure and has since sequestered himself from the net world in an try and degree up and win his belt again.
Whether or not that dedication has something to do with UFC brass being so hawkish on having him rematch “The Machine” for the title upon his return is unclear. As White stated, persons are … despite the fact that Dvalishvili managed O’Malley totally by means of their first match, and there’s little purpose to suppose a second assembly so quickly would elicit a distinct end result.
What do you suppose, Maniacs? Are you ? Or is that this one other Music vs. Cejudo state of affairs the place we noticed every part we have to learn about that match-up, and operating it again once more would simply verify the plain?