Dvalishvili shrugs off O’Malley jibes ahead of UFC 306 clash

Heading into his first-ever title fight, Merab Dvalishvili has shed light on his beef with UFC 306 opponent Sean O’Malley.

In an attempt to needle his bantamweight title rival, O’Malley had tweeted: “Are all Georgians runts?”

Despite being angered by the comments, Dvalishvili assured fans that he will be professional in their bout this Sunday (AEST).

“It’s not personal,” the No.1 bantamweight contender said during a recent media event in Las Vegas.

“This is a professional fight.

“This is for a UFC belt. This is for legacy.

“Yes, I was mad about him a couple of times.

“I was very mad when he mentioned my country in a disrespectful way.

“Because my country, it’s more than religion for me.

I have my country in my heart, that’s why I start fighting. Because I want to represent my country.

“When somebody, it doesn’t matter who, disrespects your family or your country, you have to be mad.

“If you are a man, you have to be mad and I wanted to smack his face that time.”

Dvalishvili and O’Malley will fight in the main event of UFC 306, with Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko warming up the octagon in the first of two title fights taking place at Sphere.

“Now I have an even more important thing to beat him Saturday night and grab his belt, take his belt and I can talk after the fight,” Dvalishvili added.

“Maybe I can forgive him or we can just talk.

“I’m going to keep it that way.

“I want to just win and show him he has to be humble and he has to respect everybody.

“Now today how I feel, it’s nothing personal, it’s just professional.”

UFC bookmakers have O’Malley slightly ahead in the betting, however.

BetOnline is paying -138.89 for the American to retain his bantamweight belt, while Dvalishvili is at +110 to become the new champion.

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