Merab Dvalishvili applauds Ilia Topuria for rejecting the Sean O’Malley fight: “He knows what real men should do”

By Susan Cox - March 14, 2024

Merab Dvalishvili is applauding UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria for rejecting the Sean O’Malley fight.

Sean O'Malley and Merab Dvalishvili

UFC 299, which took place last Saturday in ‘The Sunshine State’, saw bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley (18-1 MMA) defeat Marlon Vera (23-9 MMA) by unanimous decision.

Following the victory, ‘Suga’ called out the undefeated featherweight champion Ilia Topuria (15-0 MMA), even going as far as urging UFC President, Dana White to get him to Spain on a private jet.

In response to the callout, Topuria who is friends with Dvalishvili, took to ‘X‘ with the following statement:

“Suga, congrats. Was a beautiful performance! There is a fight chasing you with Merab. Get that done first.”

It’s obvious that ‘El Matador’ will not stand in the way of Merab Dvalishvili in his own quest for UFC gold.

During a recent interview the MMA Junkie, Merab Dvalishvili shared his reaction to Topuria’s post saying:

“Ilia is real champion, Ilia is real man, and of course he’s my brother and I love him, and of course he did right thing. I don’t talk to him after fight, I know he’s crazy busy, he knows I am busy, we all doing very good in life. We training, getting better but, you know, we always support each other.”

Continuing, ‘The Machine’ said:

“I’m gonna him soon in couple weeks either in Georgia or in Spain and we’re gonna spend good time together and we don’t have to talk about all this. He knows what real men should do and he’s doing whatever he was supposed to do. He’s a good guy and a good champion and I love him.” 

Merab Dvalishvili (17-4 MMA) last fought and defeated Henry Cejudo (16-4 MMA) by unanimous decision this past February at UFC 298, making it 10 victories in a row for the 33-year-old.

Do you agree that Dvalishvili should get a shot at the bantamweight crown next?

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