30 August 2023
UFC President Dana White has expressed his disappointment with Merab Dvalishvili, who, in his opinion, is too worried about the possibility of a rematch between his friend Aljamain Sterling and Sean O'Malley.
UFC President Dana White expressed his opinion on Merab Dvalishvili, who currently ranks second in the UFC bantamweight division. White wondered why Dvalishvili was more interested in a rematch between his friend Aljamain Sterling and Sean O’Malley than in a title fight against the new division champion.
"I already said I hate this guy," White said at a press conference in Las Vegas. “Why are you in this sport if you don’t want to fight for the championship belt? Why do you need a title if you only think about friendship? You can find a lot of nice people in our business, but it’s not about friendship. It’s about who is the best in world. And if you're not interested in who's the best, you don't belong here. You need to find another place where you don't care what you do."
August 19 at UFC 292 in Boston, Sterling lost his bantamweight title after losing a TKO to O’Malley in the second round. The new champion has already announced his title defense against Maron Vera in December. In the past, Vera was the only one to impress O’Malley in his career.
After the fight for the title, Dvalishvili made several controversial statements. At first, he stated that he was ready to fight O’Malley, but then clarified that he would only do this if Sterling did not get a rematch. He also considers his friend's loss to be accidental and is confident that Sterling will return to the top without any problems and defeat O’Malley ten times out of ten.
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