Why Sean O'Malley is seeking fight vs. 'scary' fellow UFC champ Ilia Topuria over Merab Dvalishvili

Fighting Ilia Topuria gets Sean O'Malley a lot more excited than facing Merab Dvalishvili.

O’Malley (17-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) has been calling to fight Topuria, who claimed the featherweight title by knocking out Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298. On the same night, Dvalishvili outlasted former dual champion Henry Cejudo in an impressive showing.

But bantamweight champion O’Malley sees Topuria (15-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) as the much bigger and dangerous fight.

“He knocked out the featherweight GOAT in Round 2. I knocked out Aljo (Sterling), the bantamweight GOAT, in Round 2,” O’Malley said of Topuria on “The MMA Hour.” “I’ve kind of pushed that fight a little bit. I’ve been getting a lot of hate for it, a little pushback saying that I’m ducking Merab. I’m like, Merab just barely – not barely, he whooped Henry, but Henry is like 42 or something. He looked horrible. I would’ve knocked Henry out four times that fight. And then Ilia goes out there and knocks out Volk, the greatest featherweight of all time in Round 2 in a beautiful performance.

“And I’m calling him out, and I’m getting sh*t from the MMA fans, saying, ‘Oh, you’re ducking Merab.’ I’m trying to call out a fight that I feel is exciting, that’s like holy sh*t, but I got a lot of pushback on it. I don’t know if people actually want me to fight Merab as much as they just hate the confidence that I have that I would go out there and knock out Ilia. But I decided, I’ve said what I needed to say, I’ve sent my message to Ilia. If Merab is next, Merab is next. I can get Ilia whenever, whenever the time comes.”

O’Malley makes his first title defense in a rematch against Marlon Vera in the UFC 299 main event March 9 at Kaseya Center in Miami.

UFC CEO Dana White declared Dvalishvili (17-4 MMA, 9-2 UFC) as the No. 1 contender, and O’Malley is willing to fight him if he gets past Vera. He just sees Topuria as a fight that gets him up at night.

“Merab is very beatable,” O’Malley said. “Henry about knocked him out, Marlon Moraes about knocked him out. Merab’s got a crazy good gas tank, he’s got good wrestling, and he’s a dangerous opponent. When I think of a scary opponent, like what makes me (shiver), that’s Ilia. Ilia gives me that – he could put your f*cking lights out and change your life. That’s a scary opponent.

“Merab is a dangerous opponent, he’s just got that good cardio and he could eventually put your lights out after you gas out, but he’s not like – he didn’t finish Henry. So, we’ll see. I like big, big fights. Merab, I’m not saying that wouldn’t be up there, but what it comes down to is, what do the people really, truly want to see? If they want to see Merab, that’s what’s next. But again, I hate even talking about that, I’ve got ‘Chito’ in front of me.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 298.