O'Malley vows to be '70% better' in Dvalishvili rematch

Former UFC bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley expects to have a much stronger performance in his rematch with Merab Dvalishvili than he did in their first fight last year.

O'Malley will attempt to regain the 135-pound title when he and Dvalishvili headline UFC 316 on June 7 in Newark. He's confident the outcome will be different because of his recent preparation.

"If I could just keep this pace up - how we've been able to train these last few weeks all the way up to the fight - I'm going to be 70% better than I was in that first fight," O'Malley said Wednesday on his "TimboSugarShow" podcast.

O'Malley dropped the title to Dvalishvili in a lopsided decision loss at UFC 306 in September. The event marked the promotion's debut at Sphere in Las Vegas.

O'Malley tore the labrum in his left hip 10 weeks before the fight and underwent surgery afterward to repair it. "Suga" hasn't stepped into the Octagon since then, while Dvalishvili defended the title for the first time against Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311 in January.

Now fully recovered, O'Malley said his body "hasn't felt this good" since he beat Petr Yan in 2022 - even before he won the title in 2023.

"I'm going to be significantly more mobile, agile, better shape (in the rematch)," O'Malley said. "I'm gonna fight at my full potential.

"Whereas that last fight, I was very happy with how I was able to perform considering how I felt. ... I wasn't supposed to win. This rematch was supposed to happen. It's gonna make this win that much more crazy."