Sean O’Malley on delay in Merab Dvalishvili fight booking: “I’m not fighting out of the country”

After Sean O’Malley defended the undisputed bantamweight title against Marlon Vera at UFC 299, it was clear that Merab Dvalishvili was next in line. Dvalishvili had weighed in as a backup for the fight and even had the longest active winning streak in the division to make his case.

However, after victory over Vera, O’Malley called out Ilia Topuria, the featherweight champion who is Dvalishvili’s countryman. After backlash from the MMA community, O’Malley agreed to fight Dvalishvili next, but no official confirmation has come up about it from the UFC. On a recent podcast episode, he revealed the delay in the fight getting booked.

“I’m trying to get it booked ASAP, the only issue is some of the next PPVs aren’t in the country, and I’m not fighting out of the country,” said O’Malley.

He also added, “God, I just wanna hit (Merab Dvalishvili) with that knee, boom, flatline him.”

After a potential victory against Dvalishvili, O’Malley already has his sights set on Ilia Topuria who nonetheless has business to do in the featherweight division. Interestingly, O’Malley, Topuria, and Dvalishvili were in attendance at UFC 300 and were caught on camera after Max Holloway brutally knocked Justin Gaethje out cold.

Furthermore, MMA is not the only avenue where O’Malley wishes to showcase his talents as evidenced by his interest in boxing. Ryan Garcia, who upset Devin Haney a few days ago, had already called out O’Malley and the UFC star has no qualms about fighting King Ry.

Sean O’Malley on Ryan Garcia matchup

Conor McGregor was the first UFC star to cross over to boxing in a high-profile fight, against the undefeated Floyd Mayweather. Before that, James Tony entered the octagon to lock horns with Randy Couture. Several veteran UFC fighters have recently boxed Jake Paul and all lost, some via brutal KO.

Sean O’Malley has long expressed his desire to fight Floyd Mayweather, Gervonta Davis, and Ryan Garcia and with Garcia’s recent victory, the desire has strengthened. Nonetheless, due to his exclusive contract with the UFC, he has certain obstacles to overcome for a crossover boxing fight to materialize per MMA Junkie.

“I’m not there yet, I still gotta become bigger. Two more f***ing sick performances, then we’re talking about being able to do whatever the f*** we want,” said Sean O’Malley. He also mentioned, “They (UFC) told me, ‘you can do a boxing fight 100%, if it makes us enough money.’ The option is there, it just has to be able to make enough money.”

Ryan Garcia had already called out O’Malley before he fought Devin Haney but the chances of the fight happening in the immediate future, are slim. After all, Garcia has big things lined up after his massive upset victory against Haney.

Do you think Sean O’Malley would fight Ryan Garcia in the future? Leave your thoughts below.