Losses are robust capsules to swallow, however they go down simpler if you’re dropping to the very best. Sean O’Malley suffered his second straight defeat to UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 316. But he seems at peace with the end result and unshaken in his self-belief, praising Dvalishvili as the very best bantamweight ever.
On Tuesday, O’Malley opened up about his second loss to the champ. O’Malley lost more decisively at UFC 316 regardless of coming into more healthy and sharper than the primary time they fought. After sharing eight mixed rounds with Dvalishvili and being submitted by the champ, O’Malley is ready to crown his rival as the best 135-pound combined martial artist.
“I really feel like I obtained so significantly better this struggle,” O’Malley stated on his YouTube channel. “I really feel like I used to be capable of present that in camp. However simply being on backside, and I’ve skilled with the very best. We prepare with such good guys… It is so bizarre. He simply felt so f—ing compact and powerful in there. I really feel like that was an excessive amount of… [He’s the] best of all time — best bantamweight of all time.”
O’Malley admitted to carrying psychological baggage into the rematch. He knew what Dvalishvili dropped at the desk: elite cardio, relentless stress, and positional dominance. O’Malley was unusually anxious on Saturday.
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“I used to be extra nervous this struggle, in all probability than I’ve ever been,” O’Malley stated. “You really feel susceptible. You are within the cage like, ‘This motherf—er grabs a maintain of me, there’s an opportunity I can not get away from this little f—er.’ I had labored the takedown protection a lot, and I knew I used to be capable of stand up. However I used to be like, ‘I additionally know there is a probability this struggle performs out the identical manner it did [last time].'”
Regardless of struggling the primary back-to-back losses of his profession, O’Malley refuses to desert the mindset that made him a champion. He nonetheless deems himself able to fixing the Dvalishvili puzzle.
“I can beat Merab,” O’Malley stated. “Name it delusional, name it no matter. That is how I obtained to the place I am at proper now. I do know I can nonetheless beat Merab.”
O’Malley’s self-belief will not spur him into hasty choices. After two tough training camps for the person he now calls the best bantamweight in historical past, “Suga” plans to take a break earlier than deciding what comes subsequent.
“It is good to not take into consideration a struggle proper now as a result of I do wish to simply chill for a number of weeks,” O’Malley stated. “It is manner higher. Even when the UFC stated, ‘We all know what we wish to do [with you next],’ I do not even wish to know proper now. Simply let me chill for 5.”