UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili has explained why he believes he had to finish Sean O'Malley in their UFC 316 main event.
Last Saturday night, Merab Dvalishvili successfully defended his UFC bantamweight championship. He did so by defeating, and submitting, Sean O'Malley in their highly anticipated rematch at UFC 316. It was yet another great outing from 'The Machine', and the fact that he got a finish just shows how much he continues to improve in the cage.
There was clearly a lot of bad blood between the two men heading into this one and as we look ahead to the future, it's hard to picture him losing the belt. In a recent interview, Merab Dvalishvili wasn't shy when talking about why he felt the need to get the finish over 'Suga' in Newark.
Merab Dvalishvili explains why he “had” to finish Sean O’Malley
“Yes, of course, you always want to do better in the next fight, especially in a rematch. I wanted to do way better than the first time. When I was fighting Sean for the belt, I just wanted to win the belt and I took less risk.
“Sometimes I don’t risk it because I just want to win. But this time, because Sean made so many excuses, I was thinking, ‘He really might come as a different person.’ He was way better than the first time, but because it was a rematch, I was supposed to do something extra.”
Merab Dvalishvili is on top of the world right now. If he can carry on building momentum like this, it won't be long before he's in the pound-for-pound #1 conversation. At the very least, bantamweights across the globe will be questioning whether or not they have what it takes to compete with someone as good as this.