Merab Dvalishvili has been chasing a shot at the bantamweight title for a long time now but there was one major obstacle in his way.
For a long time now, he has been training partners and close friends with Aljamain Sterling, who held the 135-pound belt for over two years.
Sterling's reign came to an end at UFC 292 last year where he was stopped by Sean O'Malley in the second round.
Sterling debated whether the referee on that night, Marc Goddard, was guilty of an early stoppage and this is something that Dvalishvili has been very vocal about.
Now he has the opportunity to get revenge for his teammate by taking the belt off of O'Malley at UFC 306 inside the Sphere.
Merab Dvalishvili Says He Wants To Prove That Sean O'Malley Was 'Lucky'
During a recent appearance on the Pound 4 Pound podcast with Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo, Dvalishvili spoke passionately about his thoughts on the Sterling vs O'Malley fight.
He doesn't see why the official would call the action when he did because despite the defending champion being dropped, he continued to move before taking several follow-up shots that led to Goddard stepping in.
The challenger says that this gives him more motivation ahead of September 14 where he wants to show that "Suga" had luck on his side on that night in Boston.
I want to win this fight and I want to show the world he's just a regular [guy] and he just got lucky because yeah, he did throw punch, he did clip Aljamain Sterling but Marc Goddard really helped him because when Aljo was down, he was keep moving, he was trying to grab the leg, he was moving and where Marc Goddard called him to move, he moved and then he stopped. If you tell him move and then he move, why you stop it you know. Me, when I fight, before the fight in locker room when referee comes I always tell referee, 'Hey, if I get clipped, don't stop me. Let me fight, I rather sleep, I rather die. Then, of course, you stop me but long as I'm moving, I'm doing something, please don't stop me because I don't need you.'
"Aljo was still in this fight but I was so mad when Marc Goddard stop the fight early again. So yeah, this is also like you said Henry, this is avenge this loss.
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