Sean O’Malley has detailed how one crucial change has made all the difference in his fight camp leading into his rematch with Merab Dvalishvili compared to the first time they fought.
O’Malley had been suffering from a hip injury heading into his first encounter against Dvalishvili in September last year, and while he’s keen to stress that didn’t actually affect his performance in the fight, it did have a major impact on how he was able to train for it.
“I was confident that I could go out there and knock Merab out. I did it against [Aljamain Sterling],” O’Malley told Daniel Cormier. “The Aljo fight was worse, like the rib. I would say the rib was worse than the actual hip.
“The hip didn’t play as much a role in the fight as it did as the camp. To fight someone like Merab you’ve got to prepare right. You’re got to wrestle. You’ve got to be grappling and we didn’t do that at all, hardly at all the first fight,” continued O’Malley. “This camp we’ve been able to wrestle more than we’ve ever been able to.”
And as well as countering Dvalishvili’s wrestling, O’Malley says he’s also eager to punish the current champion for what he describes as his ‘sloppy’ striking.
“To beat Merab you’ve got to be focused. You’ve got to be dialed, have the correct preparation. They call him ‘The Machine’ for a reason. He’s a machine, so I’ve got to go out there and break the machine. That’s been the goal this whole camp is go out there and break ‘The Machine.
“I’m prepared for a 25 minute war. I wouldn’t be surprised I get my hand raised, and new, first-round KO, second-round KO. I know I can put his lights out. I know I can. He’s sloppy. He’s mastered his style. He’s really good at it, but it takes one mistake. Aljo made that one mistake in the second round. It takes one mistake for me to put someone’s lights out, for the fight to change. I wouldn’t be surprised to get him out of there early, but I’m prepared and planned to go 25 minutes.”
