Sean O’Malley has been coaching with among the best fighters in MMA historical past forward of his UFC 316 rematch with Merab Dvalishvili.
UFC 316 goes down on June 7 in Newark, New Jersey. O’Malley will meet Dvalishvili in the primary occasion.
It is going to be the second time the 2 bantamweights have met. Their first assembly occurred at UFC 306 final September, when the promotion debuted on the Las Vegas Sphere. On that night time, Dvalishvili pitched a shutout, defeating O’Malley by determination to assert the bantamweight title.
Dvalishvili has since defended the title as soon as, handing Umar Nurmagomedov his first loss through determination earlier this 12 months. Whereas O’Malley has not fought since, he is without doubt one of the hottest fighters on the UFC roster, and was as aggressive with Dvalishvili as anybody, and was granted a right away rematch.
O’Malley actually faces a tall order within the UFC 316 sequel. Time will inform if he can pull it off, however he will definitely profit from getting some rounds in with Israel Adesanya.
See some clips of their coaching under, as posted by Adesanya on social media, and captured by ESPN MMA:
Sean O’Malley 🤝 Israel Adesanya
When two of the most effective strikers within the UFC linkup 🔥
(through @stylebender) pic.twitter.com/wbGeYqjtmU
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) April 15, 2025
Whereas Sean O’Malley is gearing up for a title shot, issues are much less clear for Adesanya.
Adesanya is a former two-time middleweight champ.
He first claimed the interim belt with a call win over Kelvin Gastelum in 2019. He then received undisputed gold with a knockout of Robert Whittaker. After a staggering six title defenses, he misplaced the belt to future mild heavyweight champ Alex Pereira. He then reclaimed the belt from Pereira in a right away rematch, scoring some of the dramatic KOs in UFC historical past, however then surrendered it once more in an upset determination loss to Sean Strickland. He then suffered a submission loss to Dricus Du Plessis in a bid to reclaim the title. Worse nonetheless, in his final battle, he was knocked out by contender Nassourdine Imavov.
His coach has made it clear his future remains to be up within the air. Nonetheless, it’s good to see him serving to out lively fighters like O’Malley as he mulls over his subsequent transfer. He ought to profit from the expertise too.
