Merab Dvalishvili has his eyes firmly on the bantamweight clash between Sean O'Malley and Aiemann Zahabi at UFC Freedom 250, with the winner potentially lining up as his next opponent.
O'Malley is scheduled to face Zahabi on Sunday on the White House lawn, while Dvalishvili is expected to compete next in a trilogy bout against champion Petr Yan. The winner of O'Malley vs. Zahabi will be on the shortlist for bantamweight title consideration, and Dvalishvili plans to watch the bout closely.
"I always root for my past opponents," Dvalishvili said. "Like, I'm always rooting for Sean O'Malley now, but Zahabi is not easy opponent. He has a great seven-fight win streak. Like I said, I'm rooting for Sean, if he wins, it's good, but if Zahabi wins, also it won't be bad for the division. He will have an eight-fight win streak and he will fight the winner of me and Petr Yan. So, he could be my next opponent. I'm excited to watch this fight."
Dvalishvili added, "It won't be this much easy against Zahabi, but he can win," and continued, "I think Sean can win this fight. If not, then I tell you, we will have a new contender in the division, and hopefully I can fight him next."
Dvalishvili is a former UFC bantamweight champion and previously defeated former bantamweight titleholder O'Malley to become champion.
