Sean O’Malley: Merab Dvalishvili beats ‘broke’ Henry Cejudo at UFC 298

Sean O’Malley: Merab Dvalishvili beats ‘broke’ Henry Cejudo at UFC 298

Sean O’Malley thinks Merab Dvalishvili’s drive is bigger than Henry Cejudo’s.

Dvalishvili (16-4 MMA, 9-2 UFC) meets former two-division champion Cejudo (16-3 MMA, 10-3 UFC) at UFC 298 on Feb. 17 from Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., with a main card that airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.

Cejudo retired from MMA in May 2020 after defending the bantamweight title against Dominick Cruz. He returned from a three-year hiatus to challenge then-champion Aljamain Sterling at UFC 288 in May, but suffered a split decision loss.

Dvalishvili, meanwhile, is on a nine-fight winning streak, most recently scoring a shutout of former champ Petr Yan this past March.

Ahead of the marquee matchup, champ O’Malley shared his thoughts on the high-stakes pairing.

“Henry vs. Merab is kind of interesting,” O’Malley said on the “MIGHTYcast” with Demetrious Johnson. “I think it’s going to be a competitive fight. If I had to guess, I think Merab gets it done. I think he’s just in it more. I think Henry’s coming back because he’s broke. He doesn’t have any money. he doesn’t know what else to f*cking do. So, I think Merab might get that one done.”

The winner of Dvalishvili and Cejudo could determine the No. 1 contender for bantamweight champion O’Malley (17-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC), who makes his first title defense in a rematch against Marlon Vera in the UFC 299 headliner March 9 at Kaseya Center in Miami.