Merab Dvalishvili explains why he stopped fighting Sean O'Malley during UFC 306 title fight to yell at his corner

Why Merab Dvalishvili gave up the fight against Sean O'Malley in the first round

Just 10 seconds into the opening round of the Noche UFC main event, Merab Dvalishvili began moving away from Sean O'Malley, pointing to the champion's corner and yelling at Herb Dean.

When the referee intervened, even the commentary team was confused as to why the bantamweight title fight had been stopped so early in the contest. Joe Rogan even said that Dvalishvili went into the biggest fight of his life without a mouthpiece.

The referee called a timeout to sternly warn Dvalishvili not to bother with O'Malley's corner, as there was suspicion that he was shouting at the Georgian fighter to distract him from Suga's attempted strikes.

At the post-fight press conference, Dvalishvili confirmed that he tried to get the referee to stop O'Malley's team, and in particular trainer Tim Welch, from giving him unsolicited advice.

“I was in there and I fight, I am a professional fighter, so I am focused [on the fight]and that never happened to me [before]I never pay attention to the other corner, but Tim's voice sounded very familiar to me because he had done the same thing with Aljo.

“There is a video clip on social media that everyone has seen, but he did the same thing. As if he [this in a] “He said in a very disrespectful way, 'Merab, you have to go', he was talking shit to me and I told him to stop, but nobody told him to stop, he just kept going.”

For context: Shortly after Sean O'Malley knocked out Aljamain Sterling in August 2023 to win the title, a video surfaced online in which coach Welch asked Sterling to go forward, which he did, right into “Suga's” counterattack, i.e., the finishing sequence.

“If you do the same thing in basketball or football, you get disqualified, but that's probably not the case here,” Dvalishvili continued, noting that he immediately apologized to Herb Dean for the incident.

“I told the referee I was sorry and I think he called it off afterwards because I was still hearing some things, but I don't care.”

And what about the other bizarre moment when Dvalishvili appeared to want to kiss Sean O'Malley on the back, but the striking American then struck after the bell sounded?

“I grabbed him by the neck and he has 10 seconds left, I know he can wait and he won't fall asleep or tap it. [choke] and I want to make fun of him a little bit.

“I don't hate the guy, I'm just making fun of him. Give him a little kiss to show him I'm dominating. I'm controlling this fight. I'm breaking you. That's why I kissed him.”

The newly crowned bantamweight champion noted that “I was having a little too much fun there” as he lost track of how long the round was left: “I let go and he followed me and hit me on the back of the head – I said: sorry, referee [again]I'm sorry.”

With the point victory at UFC 306, Merab Dvalishvili improves his record as a professional to 18-4.

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