At the UFC Performance Institute, Sean O’Malley recently encountered Aljamain Sterling and Merab Dvalishvili, and he looked curious to know their weights.
The three bantamweights are seen hanging out in the cafeteria in a video that Dvalishvili shared on Twitter, and O’Malley jokingly inquires about Sterling’s weight.
Sterling casually responds, “I weigh about 167 pounds,” and “Sugar” then addresses the same question to Dvalishvili, who says his weight is 155 pounds. Notably, Sterling’s expected battle with Henry Cejudo has not yet been confirmed, while “The Machine” has a fight scheduled versus Petr Yan for March.
Dvalishvili and O’Malley seem to be quite a bit smaller than Sterling. The bantamweight champion made the similar observation, stating:
“How do you guys manage to keep so trim? I eat one, and I weigh 170 pounds.”
In the caption of the video he released, Merab Dvalishvili also made fun of his following adversary. The Georgian referenced O’Malley and Sterling’s victories over the Russian last year by using the hashtag “#petryanhunters”:
“#petryanhunters” and “@SugaSeanMMA @funkmasterMMA” are having lunch together.
Petr Yan was defeated by Sean O’Malley at UFC 280 in Abu Dhabi last year, winning by a slim decision. O’Malley, who is now ranked No. 1, is anticipated to face the victor of the speculated title match between Aljamain Sterling and Henry Cejudo later this year.
Sean O’Malley on Islam Makhachev vs. Alexander Volkanovski
If anyone has the ability to defeat Islam Makhachev, Sean O’Malley believes it to be Alexander Volkanovski.
At UFC 280, Makhachev decisively defeated Charles Oliveira by way of second-round submission to claim the vacant lightweight championship. At UFC 284, he’ll attempt to make his maiden title defence. The Dagestani will fight Volkanovski, the current featherweight champion and undisputed pound-for-pound champion, in Australia the following week.
Given his physical advantage and the matchup’s stylistic similarities, Makhachev is understandably the betting favourite. But according to Sean O’Malley, Volkanovski is the lightweight champion’s most difficult opponent to date. In a recent episode of The BrOMalley Show, “Sugar” discussed the contest for the 155-pound title and said the following:
“He has mastered his style, is what I was trying to express about Alexander Volkanovski. He is compact and shorter. Will he be able to be held down and taken down? If you observed Islam’s battles, you may assume that it is. But Alexander Volkanovski, in my opinion, is the only person who can pull it off. I genuinely believe that either Alexander Volkanovski or I can defeat Islam.”
