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TJ Dillashaw addressed the fight between Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili. The long-lost former UFC champion was surprised by how easily the Georgian defeated the American.
Merab Dvalishvili defeated Sean O’Malley in the evening fight of the UFC 306 at The Sphere. The Georgian dominated from the beginning of the bout basically giving the field to the champion only in the last round. This attitude allowed Dvalishvili to secure victory after a unanimous decision by the judges.
Long-lost TJ Dillashaw spoke on the JAXXON Podcast about the fight. The former champion, who twice reached for the UFC championship belt in the up to 62 kilogram category, said goodbye to professional competition amidst scandal. The end of Dillashaw’s career was interspersed with injuries and doping slip-ups.
TJ Dillashaw pointed out that before the fight the bookmakers’ odds were extremely even. The American expected that Merab could tire O’Malley out with pressure and high pace.
– It’s not that I didn’t expect it. I knew that the odds before this fight were very even, and if I had to bet, in my opinion, Merab had a chance to tire Sean out with his pace. This guy is like the Tasmanian Devil, he doesn’t stop, he is constantly driving at you with overthrows.
– I knew it was a possibility, but watching how O’Malley worked to keep a cool head, how he moves on his feet, uses evasions, controls the distance, and delivers punches from unconventional angles – I thought he would be able to keep and control the distance, would be hard to bring down, and would eventually settle it. I thought that’s how it could turn out.
TJ Dillashaw continued his statement by pointing out that he did not expect Merab Dvalishvili to win the fight so easily. The former UFC champion noted that O’Malley looked very weak at UFC 306, however, in his opinion Sean has the range of skills to beat Merab in the future.
– I didn’t expect it to be so easy for Merab. Merab made O’Malley look poor, very poor.
– O’Malley has the skills to beat Dvalishvili. He just didn’t use them at UFC 306, and he can use deceptions to stop him, work on his feet so he doesn’t try to topple him.
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