When the octagon door closes for Saturday’s UFC 320 co-main event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, the bantamweight title will be up for grabs. Champion Merab Dvalishvili attempts to defend his title a third time when he faces No. 4 ranked Cory Sandhagen.
Former bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley had a difficult time making a prediction for the 135-pound championship bout, but ultimately revealed his pick.
“I’ve been going back and forth on this fight. I mean, I’m leaning more towards Merab. I hate counting Cory out because I know how skilled he is and how confident he is and how serious he’s taking this fight, his preparation. He lives like a true martial artist, so it’s. hard to count him out,” O’Malley said on his YouTube channel. “I feel like Merab is so confident right now. He’s so f**king strong. He finds a way to win, so I’m leaning towards Merab on that.”
Stylistically, O’Malley believes Sandhagen could give Dvalishvili some issues, but knows firsthand how difficult it is to nullify the champion’s relentlessness.
“It’s going to be an interesting fight. I do think Cory’s going to present some problems, but you’ve got to be able to do that for – It’s just Merab is consistently. I am actually very excited for that fight,” O’Malley said.
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“Cory, he does have really good footwork. And I’d like to think of myself, I have pretty good footwork. Merab just, he found a way to get ahold of me multiple times, and I know I’m tricky to take down. He found ways to get in and did,” continued to the former champion.
“But his knees, Cory’s f**King knees. You can’t make a mistake. You just can’t eat one of those f**king knees. I am very excited for that fight. It’s grappler versus striker, but Cory can grapple at such a high level, but Merab is just f**king, his grappling and MMA is so good.”
