Cory Sandhagen closely watched the rematch between Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O’Malley at UFC 316 with significant interest, fully expecting to challenge the winner for the bantamweight title later this year.
Dvalishvili secured his second victory over O’Malley, demonstrating even greater dominance by controlling the first two rounds before finishing the fight with a choke in the third. This was undoubtedly a tough defeat for O’Malley, who rapidly rose to prominence as a major star and draw for the UFC. However, the two losses to the current champion leave him in a challenging position regarding immediate title aspirations.
Before the fight, O’Malley had revealed making substantial lifestyle changes specifically for the Dvalishvili rematch. Despite these efforts, the result was the same, and Sandhagen expressed sympathy regarding this outcome.
“I kind of feel for Sean,” Sandhagen told MMA Fighting. “Sean’s one of those guys that kind of thinks about life in terms of a journey and all of that stuff and I can relate to that big time. So I know the feeling of changing a lot of stuff about your life in hopes that it will translate over into fighting and then also hope that you’ll get a good result from it. It sucks that life doesn’t always work like that. So I kind of feel for him a little bit.”
Analyzing the fight itself, Sandhagen admitted that O’Malley clearly didn`t have a strong performance. Aside from defending some of Dvalishvili’s takedown attempts, O`Malley offered very little offense of his own.
The turning point occurred in the third round when O’Malley became entangled in a grappling scramble on the mat, allowing Dvalishvili to secure the fight-ending choke. Dvalishvili’s dominant display impressed Sandhagen, further intensifying his motivation to defeat him when they eventually step into the octagon together.
“The fight itself, Sean looked a little bit off, even more off than the last time,” Sandhagen commented. “I don’t really know what that’s about. I mean Merab looked super on. I think Merab’s building some really good momentum.”
“I think that he’s getting more confident in each fight and I’m really excited to face that challenge. I think that I’m the guy to beat him. I just can’t wait to actually be a world champion finally.”
Currently, Sandhagen’s primary focus is confirming a date and location for his fight against Dvalishvili, a potential opportunity to finally realize his dream of competing for a UFC title. Yet, he is aware of the considerable excitement surrounding a potential future fight between himself and O’Malley, given their clashing styles and how well they match up.
Should Sandhagen defeat Dvalishvili and become champion, it could revitalize O’Malley’s career by potentially opening a path back to title contention. But does O’Malley possess the capability to learn from his mistakes and ascend the rankings once more?
“I think he does,” Sandhagen answered confidently. “O’Malley kind of gets labeled as a star first before he gets labeled as a good fighter. I think O’Malley’s a really, really good fighter. He’s a super athletic guy, also, so when you’re that athletic, you’re capable of making a lot of changes in your game and stuff.”
“If you don’t pick things up very quickly, it can be hard to change. But Sean definitely has that ability, just him being a really good athlete so I think he definitely can.”
While O’Malley publicly discussed giving up marijuana, social media, and video games to better focus on the rematch, Sandhagen believes the critical changes O’Malley needs to implement are more rooted in his training and technical preparation.
At his peak, O’Malley was known as a precise striker with devastating knockout power. However, his two bouts against Dvalishvili highlighted vulnerabilities in his overall game. Sandhagen anticipates O’Malley will address these weaknesses, potentially leading to a future meeting between them as champion and challenger.
“I think he just has to change a few things, not like in his personal life but in his technical fighting style of stuff and then just be able to grapple with these guys that are really good grapplers,” Sandhagen explained.
“He got away for a long time just being able to one-shot, knock people out. Now he’s facing some for real well-rounded, really good fighters and you just can’t be a one-trick pony anymore.”
Although a matchup against O’Malley might be a future prospect, Sandhagen is currently solely focused on his title fight against Dvalishvili. He hasn’t received an official offer from the UFC yet, but after a conversation with Dvalishvili backstage following his recent victory, Sandhagen feels optimistic that their clash will happen in the near future.
“I know Merab was saying sometime in November or December,” Sandhagen stated. “That works for me, too. These things take a little bit of time or whatever but I’m pretty confident. I feel good about it and I’m super excited to finally get my title shot.”
