UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley‘s first title defense went almost perfectly. The rainbow-haired UFC star defeated Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera in an absolute striking masterclass earlier this year. His next fight, however, is expected to be much more challenging. After all, he is taking on Merab Dvalishvili, perhaps the best wrestler in the 135-pound division on UFC Noche (306) at the iconic ‘Sphere’ in Las Vegas next month. However, a small, albeit significant, speed bump came when Merab Dvalishvili revealed that he had cut his eye, which incensed the UFC CEO.

White, of course, had publicly called Dvalishvili ‘stupid’ for revealing the injury he sustained during a training session and felt that he had given O’Malley exactly where he needed to hit the Georgian for maximum damage. But O’Malley thinks the Las Vegas resident is not worried about the contender’s well-being.

Sean O’Malley vows to beat ‘The Machine’ out of the UFC

Sean O’Malley joined Michael Bisping on the latter’s YouTube channel, where the former middleweight champ asked ‘Suga’ about Dana White’s concerns about Dvalishvili’s cut. O’Malley felt that White didn’t care about ‘The Machine’ and his health, or even O’Malley having a potential target in their fight. Instead, the bantamweight champ felt that Dana White was simply concerned that this revelation may put their UFC 306 main event bout in jeopardy, as the Athletic Commission may have something to say if both fighters are not completely healthy.

“Yeah I mean the cut itself, I see Dana’s point of view, it’s like he just doesn’t want that fight to fall out. Does Dana actually care that Merab has a cut? No Dana probably doesn’t care. Merab could lose his arm and I don’t think Dana would actually care,” he said.

Then O’Malley went back to what seems to be his favorite pastime recently, roasting Merab Dvalishvili. The champ promised that ‘The Machine’ should not be worried about his cut, as he will beat the #1 ranked bantamweight title contender so badly to make sure Dvalishvili is cut from the UFC roster.

“It’s the fact that it risks the potential of the fight, that’s what is the issue there, with maybe the commission or something like that not letting the fight happen. But Dana doesn’t actually care if Merab got cut. Merab’s about to get cut from the UFC after this fight, let alone have a little eyebrow cut. That’s the last cut he needs to worry about,” he added.

However, one thing stands between O’Malley and victory at UFC 306- ‘The Machine’s excellent wrestling. But surprisingly, the champ is not too worried about that either.

‘Suga’ has a simple plan to deal with Merab Dvalishvili’s wrestling

Merab Dvalishvili’s wrestling is so good that he completely dominated the former two-division champ and Olympics gold medallist, Henry Cejudo in their UFC 298 co-main event clash earlier this year. This is why many feel O’Malley is facing the toughest matchup of his career so far. But ‘Suga’ doesn’t think so. In fact, to the contrary, he thinks ‘The Machine’ will not be much of a threat in the wrestling department at their September 14 clash. Why?

Well, because the always supremely self-confident bantamweight champ is sure he will use his fantastic striking to knock out ‘Merab’ in short order after the first bell has rung. “I will put his lights out very early,” O’Malley told ESPN MMA in an interview. And the champ has good reasons to be confident.

Aljamain Sterling, whom O’Malley won the title off of last year, is an excellent championship-level wrestler himself. And despite the unfavorable matchup, O’Malley was able to deal with ‘Aljo’ in the second round, downing him out with a picture-perfect counter. It seems the reigning champ is preparing and hoping to be able to do the same to Sterling’s best friend Dvalishvili on UFC 306.

What are your predictions for UFC 306? Let us know in the comments below.