Impact It was a classic Merab performance on countless levels. O'Malley looked better than he did in their first fight last September and Dvalishvili was still able to turn it into a rout in short order. Simply put, there's no fighter in the world today, in any division, that can come close to matching the pace of Merab. O'Malley kept things fairly close for two rounds before it all fell apart. Dvalishvili landed 3-of-5 takedowns in Round 3 alone, good for 4:18 worth of control time in the frame. On top of that, Merab's striking appeared much improved. He landed his fair share of damaging shots on the feet and handled everything the challenger threw his way. History tells us that Dvalishvili, at age 34, should be hitting a wall sooner rather than later, but this isn't a normal situation. Merab's next title defense is likely to come against Cory Sandhagen, either late in 2025 or early 2026.
JUNE 8, 2025 • ROTOWIRE
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