Ben Askren believes Sean O’Malley’s decision to have an immediate rematch against Merab Dvalishvili is a risky career move.
O’Malley is set to challenge Dvalishvili for the bantamweight title at UFC 316 in Newark on June 7. This follows his unanimous decision loss to Dvalishvili at UFC 306 last September.
Askren, speaking on his Funky and the Champ show alongside Daniel Cormier, broke down why he thinks it is a bad move by the former champ.
“I kind of think this is a bad move. If he gets beat up by Merab again, then he loses a whole bunch of attraction because it’s like, well, you already lost to the champ twice, so until the champ goes away, they’re not going to give you a third shot against him. He could have fought some, maybe, lower-ranked guys.”
Askren further explained his reasoning, suggesting that O’Malley could have benefited from facing opponents less likely to expose his wrestling weaknesses.
“Against guys who can’t take him down, he kind of looks like a real freaking superstar, right? He’s really exciting, very diverse striking attack, so he could have looked really good, built the fight back up into something bigger. But now, I feel like everyone is feeling, ‘Hey, we just saw this, it wasn’t competitive. Why do we need to see this again?’”
Since their first fight Sean O’Malley underwent hip surgery, while Merab Dvalishvili successfully defended his title against Umar Nurmagomedov.
Despite “Suga’s” striking abilities, Askren remains concerned about the rematch.
“I wish Sean would have taken some more time to improve his wrestling, but he still has dynamic striking, he has knockout capabilities. Merab has been relatively unstoppable looking in his last handful of fights.”
