Sean O'Malley

Former UFC interim welterweight champion Colby Covington of the United States spoke about his attitude toward his fellow countryman, the promotion's lightweight division titleholder Sean O'Malley.

"I don't have any friends in the UFC. But I have a lot of respect for O'Malley. He's not afraid to dye his hair, he doesn't care what people think of him. He doesn't care about that. Sean goes out there and just shows who he is. Great, all-time great. He's got a great, unique style that a lot of fighters don't have," Covington said on The Rush With Maxx Crosby podcast.

As a reminder, O'Malley defeated Marlon Vera by unanimous decision on March 9 at UFC 299 in his last fight.

Retired American mixed martial arts veteran Juraya Faber shared his thoughts on the fight between UFC flyweight champion Sean O'Malley and Merab Dvalishvili.

According to the latest information, the fight between the American and the Georgian could take place on September 14 at UFC 306.

"It's hard to say, but it's definitely going to be a tough fight. No one has been able to stop Merab's fight, not even Henry Cejudo. Honestly, it's a bad fight for O'Malley as Merab is tough and resilient. He came out against the real killers in this division and calmly fended off their best attacks. The real damage was when he hit his own head on the ice.

But there's something special about O'Malley. He's got finesse. He's got the style of a matador. Merab is definitely a real fighter, so if Shawn can put up the perfect fight, he's just going to throw him accurate punches and stay on the sidelines. O'Malley is really good at grappling. I've had the opportunity to train with some of his partners - they're really top-notch guys. They know how to fight, they know jiu-jitsu. So it's hard for me to speak unequivocally about the winner," MMA Junkie quoted Faber as saying.

Aljamain Sterling, former UFC lightweight champion, wrote a post on social media addressed to the organization's current lightweight champion Sean O'Malley. Sterling called Sean a worthless champion.

"You're a worthless champion. Keep bragging about fighting handicappers. You do it to have a high chance of winning. Kid, you're not a real man. Don't try to run away from a top contender again and then fight a guy who's locked in the top 15," Sterling wrote on his social media.

Recall that O'Malley became the UFC lightweight champion by knocking out Sterling and taking the championship belt away from him.

UFC lightweight title challenger Merab Dvalishvili has revealed how he plans to proceed in his fight with division champion Sean O'Malley.

According to the latest information, the fight between the American and the Georgian could take place on September 14 at UFC 306.

"Yes, I'm one of the best fighters. But don't be surprised if Sean O'Malley takes me down. This is MMA, guys. I'm a humble guy, and anything is possible here.

I'm going to wrestle Sean a little bit first, and then I'm going to use my striking and knock him out in the standup," Dvalishvili told Sportskeeda.

Recall that the 33-year-old Dvalishvili is riding a streak of ten straight wins in the UFC.

UFC lightweight champion Sean O'Malley has no doubt that he will knock out the next title challenger Merab Dvalishvili.

According to the latest information, the fight between the American and the Georgian could take place on September 14 at UFC 306.

"I'm going to knock Merab out. It can be even easier to do that with wrestlers. Vera was not going to wrestle, so I beat him in the standup for 25 minutes. Sterling went for the wrestling and went for the knockdown. I know I can knock Merab out with one punch or I can torture him for five rounds. I personally prefer to win by knockout, but a master class in beating Merab is fine," Bloody Elbow quoted O'Malley as saying.