Sean O'Malley previews Merab Dvalishvili vs. Cory Sandhagen fight at UFC 320: "He's freakishly strong"

Sean O'Malley recently shared his thoughts on the upcoming Merab Dvalishvili vs. Cory Sandhagen at UFC 320 in October. O'Malley acknowledged that Sandhagen was similar to him in terms of their striking style while urging 'The Sandman' to be careful of Dvalishvili's strength.

O'Malley is coming off a third-round submission loss to Dvalishvili in their title rematch last month. In their first encounter at UFC 306 last September, Dvalishvili dominated O'Malley over five rounds to win via unanimous decision. Given their history, it's possible for 'Suga' to find himself in the title picture depending on the result of the Dvalishvili vs. Sandhagen fight.

In a recently posted YouTube video, O'Malley previewed the Dvalishvili vs. Sandhagen fight and said:

"I fought Merab twice, beat him once, lost to him once. Just kidding. Wrestling versus striker. Cory’s got really good wrestling scrambles. He did really good against Umar [Nurmagomedov]. He kept his hips high, he was able to scramble very well. I wouldn’t say he really gassed, but he definitely got a little bit tired, whereas Merab, he just doesn’t get tired. He really just doesn’t and he’s freakishly strong."

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He continued:

"It’s hard for me to wrap my head [around], who do I think’s going to win? I think it’s a f**king coin flip. If I had to guess, if Merab goes out there and grabs a hold of him, I think Cory’s going to be surprised by how strong that little Georgian feels. But also, I could be completely wrong. Cory could go out there and hit some beautiful scrambles and make Merab look silly." [H/t: MMA Fighting]

Watch the full video below:

When Cory Sandhagen called Sean O'Malley a "one-trick pony" after UFC 316 loss

After Sean O'Malley lost his rematch against Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 316 last month, Cory Sandhagen sounded off on the Montana native's fighting style. Sandhagen claimed that O'Malley was a "one-trick pony" and struggled against well-rounded fighters.

In an interview with MMA Fighting, Sandhagen expressed his reaction to O'Malley's performance against Dvalishvili and said:

"O'Malley gets labeled as a star first before he gets labeled as a good fighter. He has to change a few things, not in his personal life but in his actual fighting style. He got away for a long time, just being able to one-shot knock people out, and now he's facing some real well-rounded fighters — and you just can't be a one-trick pony anymore."

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Edited by Nishant Zende.