Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili got into a heated altercation, with the former calling the latter ‘a little goofball.’
After UFC 288, O’Malley and champion Aljamain Sterling had a post-fight faceoff in the octagon following his split-decision win over Henry Cejudo.
Things escalated quickly as Dana White tried to diffuse the situation as Dvalishvili grabbed O’Malley’s jacket. O’Malley then approached Dvalishvili, and Sterling joined in.
However, luckily the situation didn’t escalate as who knows what could have happened on any other given day. With that being said, White held his hands up for creating a potentially inflammatory situation.
“I’ve had better ideas than what I did tonight. Not a great idea but yes, [Sean O’Malley is] next. It was a bad idea [to bring him in the cage],” White
And once the situation had died down, O’Malley gave his own take on the matter.
“Merab, he took the jacket, he’s doing little Russian things that they do. Merab’s just a little goofball. I don’t take that dude too serious,” O’Malley
Social Media Reaction
The in cage faceoffs after a fight are always terrible. Idk why they continue to do them
— Riley Greene Enjoyer (@C2sburner) May 7, 2023
They need to stop bringing fighters into the ring.
— I'll tell you h'wut (@lolwhatsrl) May 7, 2023
Face off is a bad idea.
— McDaddy (@McDaddy78345616) May 7, 2023