Merab Dvalishvili Blames Bad Food for Fifth Round Scare Against Sean O’Malley

Dvalishvili challenged O’Malley for the bantamweight title in the main event at UFC 306 on Sept. 14 at the Sphere in Las Vegas. It was grappling-heavy domination from the Georgian for the majority of the fight until the final round, when Dvalishvili appared to be hurt by a teep to the body from “Suga,” immediately dropping his hands low. However, “The Machine” was able to coast his way to unanimous decision victory from there.

Dvalishvili now claims that O’Malley only hurt him to the body because of some unfamiliar food he had the night before. Dvalishvili claims his stomach was already hurting after having the food and the pain returned when O’Malley kicked his belly in that final minute.

“John Wood gave me some – they give you a bag – and I ate that yogurt or something sweet,” Dvalishvili said in an interview with Daniel Cormier. “Once I eat this, my stomach is like, ‘What the f--k.’… I feel the pain in my stomach. Anyway I fight and he [kicked me in the gut] and I feel this pain. I was like, ‘f--k what’s going on.’”

Dvalishvili is currently riding an 11-fight winning streak, the longest in UFC bantamweight history. While the promotion seems inclined on pitting him against Umar Nurmagomedov for his first title defense, Dvalishvili has called out former flyweight champ Deiveson Figueiredo.

Reference: https://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Merab-Dvalishvili-Blames-Bad-Food-for-Fifth-Round-Scare-Against-Sean-OMalley-194991