Merab Dvalishvili’s coach reveals moment Sean O’Malley broke, doesn’t discount UFC eventually pushing for trilogy

Damon Martin is a veteran journalist and insider covering combat sports since 2003.

Merab Dvalishvili has an uncanny ability to break his opponent’s will and that usually happens with his relentless pressure and non-stop conditioning but his head coach doesn’t believe that’s what led to Sean O’Malley’s downfall at UFC 316.

After beating O’Malley by decision in their first encounter this past September, the UFC’s reigning bantamweight champion somehow managed to top himself in the rematch with an impressive third-round finish after snatching a nasty choke that ended the fight. Once again, Dvalishvili’s wrestling and grappling took center stage but John Wood believes he saw O’Malley’s demeanor change even earlier in the fight when they were trading shots on the feet.

“I do believe that knockout was an option,” Wood told MMA Fighting. “I don’t know if everybody noticed but he was touching him pretty good and rocked him a couple of times. The goal again is finish however we can finish. Win the fight. The first goal is to win the fight. But the things that Merab does and the things that Merab brings to the table and I caught a lot of shit the other day for saying I truly believe we could have finished the last three fights. No problem.

“There are moments in all those fights where the person, the fighter broke and they didn’t want to be there anymore. They do things, whether it’s subconsciously or they’re seeing it, where they don’t want to be there and they give options and opportunities to get out of there.”

So when exactly did O’Malley break in the rematch?

Wood says there were a couple of moments that stood out to him but the real highlight was when Dvalishvili got through O’Malley’s takedown defense, lifted him into the air and brought him crashing back down again in the center of the cage.

O’Malley said after the first fight ended that a hip injury prevented him from really training his grappling before facing Dvalishvili but he had nothing holding him back this time. While Wood gives O’Malley credit for showing improvements, he knows that slam takedown from Dvalishvili had to take a toll on him in the fight.

“I think that was the start of it,” Wood said about the takedown leading to O’Malley’s demise. “I think even in round one, there was some success where I told Merab all camp, there’s going to be a moment real quick when he gets out there where he goes ‘oh shit, this feels very oddly similar but worse.’ I think that happened after the first round.

“But yes, when another man picks you up like a child and carries you and throws you down and does whatever and it just seems like nothing you’re doing is working, there’s just no way not feel a certain way. Merab’s just got Sean’s number. That happens sometimes in fights and styles.”

Wood stated numerous times leading up to the rematch that he expected Dvalishvili to look for the finish so he wasn’t the least bit surprised that the Georgian fighter snatched that choke in the third round to put O’Malley away.

As impressive as that was, Wood promises that Dvalishvili is just getting started when it comes to showing off his ability to put opponents away and he expects O’Malley was just the first of many to experience that.

“Mark my words, this won’t be the first and only submission,” Wood said. “There will be knockouts. There will be TKO’s. He’s still getting better and I think that Sean did better but Sean defended takedowns in the first one. Sean did things later in the rounds in the first fight and as a coach it’s my job to figure out what in a rematch, what they think they’re going to do better and we have to change and adjust and change those strategies and change those timings and it worked out perfectly.

“Merab is special. People are now starting to realize that. His timing, his vision, the way he listens and learns, he’s special. So he can adapt to anyone at any point in time. He figures it out. He downloads and computes and he does it on the go. He does it in a chaotic, hectic manner.”

With two wins over O’Malley and the second fight ending in a finish, Dvalishvili now moves forward with his career as he begins seeking out new challenges.

Fighters like Cory Sandhagen and Mario Bautista are probably near the top of the list of potential contenders who have never fought the champion previously but Dvalishvili obviously isn’t opposed to rematches if that’s what the UFC wants from him.

Given the lay of the land at bantamweight, Wood expects Dvalishvili to focus on new objectives while putting O’Malley in his rearview mirror but he doesn’t discount the possibility that the UFC would put that fight together again in the future.

“In the realm of reality, I’d say we’re not going to see it again,” Wood said about Dvalishvili facing O’Malley for a third time. “In the realm of the UFC and them deciding a win changes everything. If O’Malley goes out there and starches the next guy, everybody’s going to jump back on the bandwagon … and he’ll come and they might say ‘when I fought Merab the second time … I’m not saying they’ve said this but ‘I had an injured foot’ or [whatever] to maybe get back. One or two more knockouts, you know how things work.

“If the UFC sees that they can get behind it and their marketing machine and they can make dollars and cents out of it, then they’ll do it. You are not in the business of rankings of the best guy should always fight the next best guy and the next best guy should fight the champion. That’s not the way it goes. So I do see a potential of him being back in the mix after some time.”

What would O’Malley have to do in order to justify a third fight against Dvalishvili?

His coach believes that’s a massive climb back up the bantamweight ladder but he doesn’t put it past O’Malley — Wood just knows the chances of that fight happening again any time soon is very unlikely.

“I don’t think Sean is going to be the next best guy for a while,” Wood said. “I think there’s other guys. He would have to go through a murderer’s row and beat all those guys pretty handily to get back. So as far as with him, [does he go to] 145 [pounds], those guys are big and O’Malley does the size and the range but he’d have to stack on some muscle. He doesn’t have a very big frame from what I see. So that might not be the smartest thing.

“But I think there are some good fights for him that he can win at [135 pounds] and then figure it out from there. Go win a couple more and then make that decision. He’s obviously a very talented fighter that people want to watch.”