Merab Dvalishvili responds with brutal honesty to high praise from Sean O’Malley’s coach

Ahea of his bantamweight title rematch with Sean O'Malley at UFC 316 on June 7, Merab Dvalishvili sent some verbal jabs in the direction of 'Suga's' coach, Tim Welch.

Welch was recently captured sharing immense praise for 'The Machine', who the MMA coach believes is the greatest bantamweight fighter of all-time.

But the 135-pound king says that Welch's comments were not born out of pure generosity, but rather because Dvalishvili had defeated O'Malley when they fought at Noche UFC 306.

The Georgian fighter was recently interviewed by MMA journalist Shakiel Mahjouri, who informed the bantamweight champion of Welch's high praise for him. The 34-year old responded with:

"Yeah he gave me this compliment and gave me this respect. But I understand this is also because [he had] a champion, a student, that lost against somebody and of course you've got to give respect to the guy who you lost [to]. You want to lose against one of the best. It's good, it feels good, but [Welch] is still a cheater in my eyes."

Check out Merab Dvalishvili's response to Sean O'Malley's coach below (3:40):

Dvalishvili's accusations about Welch being a "cheater" stem from the MMA coach shouting instructions at Aljamain Sterling in an attempt to get Sterling to think that those instructions came from his own coaches' corner.

During the Georgian's clash with O'Malley, Welch did the same thing at the beginning of the first round, causing a chaotic start to the fight.

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Merab Dvalishvili already knows who he wants to fight after Sean O'Malley

Merab Dvalishvili appears to have been paying attention to the callouts from Cory Sandhagen, as the bantamweight king is eager to test his skillset against 'The Sandman' after UFC 316.

Sandhagen is confident that he has the style to defeat the marauding Dvalishvili. Given that the American is the highest-ranked contender who hasn't faced 'The Machine', he could certainly receive the next title shot should the champion retain his title against O'Malley.

During a recent interview with MMAJunkie, Dvalishvili discussed a potential clash with Sandhagen, saying:

"So looks like Cory Sandhagen is ready for me. We have never fought against each other, he's a great contender who has fought with everybody. He has a good style, he's a good fighter... He beat alot of guys in our division."

Catch Merab Dvalishvili's comments below: