Belal Muhammad recently had a change of heart regarding his pick for the Noche UFC 306 main event.
O'Malley is poised to put his UFC bantamweight title on the line against Dvalishvili in the headlining bout of one of the year's most anticipated pay-per-view events, set to take place at the Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada, this Saturday.
"Suga" enters this fight fresh off his dominant first title defense, where he redeemed his only UFC loss by decisively defeating former rival Marlon Vera at UFC 299 this past March. O'Malley captured the 135-pound crown with a second-round TKO victory over Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292 in August 2023.
Meanwhile, Dvalishvili rides an impressive 10-fight win streak, boasting wins over former champions such as Petr Yan and Jose Aldo. "The Machine" had been campaigning for a title shot for some time, and his wish was finally granted after a commanding victory over former two-division titleholder Henry Cejudo at UFC 298 this past February.
Initially, the defending champion was labeled as the underdog against Dvalishvili, but as fight week unfolded, the tides shifted, and O'Malley emerged as the betting favorite for various reasons.
Likewise, "Remember the Name" has also experienced a shift in perspective, now leaning towards a different pick for the upcoming showdown...
Muhammad Revises His Pick for O'Malley vs. Dvalishvili Showdown
During a recent interview with MMA legend Demetrious Johnson, Muhammad weighed in on the O'Malley vs. Dvalishvili title fight. The newly crowned UFC welterweight champion admitted that just a month ago, he believed "The Machine" had what it took to dethrone O'Malley.
However, after some reflection, he's now leaning towards "Suga", confident that O'Malley's precise, well-timed striking will be enough to counter Dvalishvili's relentless wrestling and secure his title defense.
If you'd have asked me maybe a month ago, I would say Merab's gonna wrestle, and Merab is on another level," Muhammad said. "Especially with his last fight, beating Cejudo the way he did, but I've swayed—I'm picking O'Malley in this fight. I think he's a sharpshooter; he's so good at moving laterally. Merab gets hit a lot in a lot of his fights, and he's been rocked a lot. He's a 'Machine', so he'll walk through those punches, but I just think that O'Malley hits differently than anybody he's fought.
He has so much confidence after knocking out Aljo, who I think has better striking than Merab. Merab is very wild when he runs in, and even with his takedowns, he'll sacrifice defense just to shoot in and grab a hold of you. Once he grabs a hold of you, it's gonna be a long night, but I think that O'Malley has been training for him. He knows how to do that back step. I think I see Merab walking into something.
"Remember the Name" expressed concerns that Dvalishvili seems to be prioritizing social media promotion over his actual training, implying that he may have lost the fire to win the title. Muhammad also criticized "The Machine" for his recent antics, specifically calling out his decision to publicize suffering a cut during training.
Merab has just been posting. I think he's been doing too much social media, thinking about promoting and being a character instead of training hard for the fight. You're getting stitches, you're showing you're getting stitches, then you're taking them out with scissors, then you're drinking in Mexico, and you're showing all of this stuff that does not need to be documented. All of this stuff does not need to be posted. But I think now he's in that social media mindset where it's not about the hunger anymore. It's not, 'This is my first time getting this title shot; it took me this long to get here; I can't let the opportunity pass me up.' It's, 'Let me show the UFC that I can be sold. I can sell myself. I can do this,' and you're thinking about other stuff instead of the goal, which is to win the fight.