Merab Dvalishvili promises emotions aren’t getting the better of him ahead of UFC 306.
In the days and weeks leading up to his first ever shot at gold in the UFC, Dvalishvili has taken aim at both Sean O’Malley and his head coach Tim Welch while going as far as vowing to dish out a beatdown if he saw them in public. While his grudge against Welch went deeper than any single comment made, Dvalishvili explained on Wednesday that his biggest beef with O’Malley really came down to a post he made on social media.
In that instance, O’Malley dropped a message on Twitter saying “Are all Georgians runts?” while tagging Dvalishvili and UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria, who both hail from the tiny Eastern European country. That insult didn’t sit well with Dvalishvili and he was admittedly irate at the time.
“It’s not personal,” Dvalishvili said during UFC 306 media day. “This is a professional fight. This is for a UFC belt. This is for legacy. Yes, I was mad about him a couple of times. I was very mad when he mentioned my country in a disrespectful way. Because my country, it’s more than religion for me. I have my country [in my heart], that’s why I start fighting. Because I want to represent my country.
“This is a healthy competition. That’s all we do. Then when somebody, it doesn’t matter who, disrespects your family or your country, you have to be mad. If you are a man, you have to be mad and I wanted to smack his face that time.”
Despite his ill feelings towards O’Malley in that moment, Dvalisvhili says he’s setting his emotions to the side to concentrate on the fight because ultimately that’s all that matters.
As much as O’Malley’s comments about Georgia angered him, the 33-year-old bantamweight contender knows that he needs to be devoid of emotions come Saturday night.
Dvalishvili won’t let O’Malley’s words rattle him ahead of the biggest fight of his career but he’s willing to chat with his rival afterwards to settle whatever grievances they may still share.
“Now I have an even more important thing to beat him Saturday night and grab his belt, take his belt and I can talk after the fight,” Dvalishvili said. “Maybe I can forgive him or we can just talk.
“I’m going to keep it that way. I want to just win and show him he has to be humble and he has to respect everybody. Now today how I feel, it’s nothing personal, it’s just professional.”
