Leon Edwards was dominated by Belal Muhammad at their UFC 304 welterweight title bout. Not only did Rocky’ lose the title, but he also lost much of the aura and the fear factor he had accrued since his fantastic victory over the seemingly unstoppable Kamaru Usman at UFC 278.

Part of it is the manner in which he lost the fight (even as he looked lethal in the final minute or so). Muhammad did an excellent job putting Edwards against the cage and mauling him there with his grappling and surprisingly sharp striking. Henry Cejudo feels this could be a blueprint that wrestler Merab Dvalishvili could use in his upcoming title clash against bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley. Kamaru Usman, however, disagrees completely.

Kamaru Usman thinks Sean O’Malley is far better than Leon Edwards

While Kamaru Usman feels that Muhammad’s game plan was certainly worth emulating by wrestlers who are fighting strikers, he doesn’t see it working very well for Dvalishvili against Sean O’Malley. And that’s for one very simple reason: O’Malley is not Leon Edwards, he is much better, according to ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’, especially when it comes to footwork and lateral movement.

“I get what you’re saying but Henry [about Belal’s gameplan being used by Merab against Sean O’Malley] … [But] Sean O’Malley is not [Leon Edwards]. You can’t compare Sean O’Malley to Leon Edwards, you cannot. Because Sean O’Malley has lateral movement. I mean I’m high on this guy for a reason. Like this kid’s good, he has lateral movement his angles are completely different,” Usman told Cejudo on their ‘Pound 4 Pound’ podcast.

Elaborating on the differences between ‘Rocky’ and ‘Suga’, the former welterweight champ said that the latter’s footwork and movements are far superior to the former, which is why Merab Dvalishvili won’t have much success trying to implement Belal Muhammad’s UFC 304 game plan, given O’Malley’s brilliance on the feet.

“Leon’s going to take one or two steps backward and kind of wait to try to land something, [but] the lateral movements aren’t there. Sean O’Malley is on a completely different level, footwork-wise when it comes to setting those things up. So yeah I wouldn’t compare the two,” Usman added, as the excitement for O’Malley’s second title defense grows.

‘Suga’ to take on Merab Dvalishvili in cracking matchup

Sean O’Malley will defend his 135-pound title against Merab Dvalishvili on perhaps the UFC’s most awaited card of the year (which includes the UFC 300 anniversary mega-card). The duo will fight in the main event of UFC Noche (306) at the iconic Sphere in Las Vegas, which will be the most unique audio-visual experience, especially for the live audience there.

In addition, O’Malley’s slick, out-of-this-world, hit-and-don’t-get-hit striking will go up against the wrestle-a-bear-to-the-ground grappling of Dvalishvili. A stylistic nightmare on paper for O’Malley, ‘The Machine’ is expected to be the champ’s toughest opponent to date.

Not to mention the genuine animosity and bad blood the two have between them. This, of course, is the most apparent in the constant shots and ridicule both bantamweights regularly hurl at each other. All of these are the ingredients for a cracking matchup, which is exactly what their clash is shaping up to be. What are your predictions for O’Malley-Dvalishvili?