Sean O'Malley sarcastically agrees with Merab Dvalishvili

LAS VEGAS – The trash talk between UFC 306 headliners Sean O'Malley and Merab Dvalishvili continued at the event's pre-fight press conference.

In the run-up to their bantamweight title fight, champion O'Malley (18-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) and his challenger Dvalishvili (17-4 MMA, 10-2 UFC) repeatedly exchanged heated words, but it never got to the point where they felt the need to resort to physical violence.

At Thursday's press conference, held in the parking lot of Sphere, the venue hosting Saturday's pay-per-view event (ESPN+ Pay-per-View, ESPNews, ESPN+), the headliners took turns stepping up to the microphone and making some serious jabs at each other in a somewhat playful tone.

A reporter asked O'Malley if he would still seek a boxing match against Gervonta Davis to write another chapter in the one-sided crossover history of MMA and boxing. The champion's answer sparked a slugfest with Dvalishvili.

“Yeah, it depends on my performance,” O'Malley said. “I've got to go out there and knock this guy out with my hands. If I do that a couple more times, this fight is inevitable.”

Dvalishvili could not accept this stunning comment without a response.

“Keep dreaming, keep dreaming,” Dvalishvili replied. “Nobody has knocked me out yet. Nobody. Keep dreaming, Sean O'Malley. That's not how you knock out 'Chito' Vera.”

At that moment, O'Malley reminded Dvalishvili of what happened when he challenged teammate Aljamain Sterling for the bantamweight title at UFC 292 last August.

“But I knocked out Aljo, right? Right?” O'Malley joked.

“That was an early stoppage!” said Dvalishvili. “Come on, that was early. You were lucky!”

O'Malley added more sarcasm to his final response in their exchange, forgiving Dvalishvili for his favor, saying that his lucky results repeated themselves throughout his UFC career, leading to him stopping six opponents in 10 wins.

“That was a hell of a lot of luck,” O'Malley said. “I keep getting lucky, it's crazy. Every fight I get lucky. Somehow, some way, I get lucky.”

O'Malley became only the second person to defeat Sterling in the UFC. The result ended the “Funk Master's” three-time title defense and sparked O'Malley's run. “Sugar” will seek his second title defense at Noche UFC following a successful rematch against Marlon Vera at UFC 299.

“OK, try me. Same thing,” said Dvalishvili, having the last word of the exchange.

If O'Malley is correct in his assumption that a knockout would get the attention of “Tank” Davis and get him to organize a major crossover fight, he will have to do something that no one has ever done to Dvalishvili in the cage.

Dvalishvili, who enters his first title fight after defeating three former champions, has been defeated only once in his career, losing by submission to Ricky Simon in 2018. The other three losses in his professional career have come by decision.

The Georgian remains convinced that O'Malley cannot defeat him and is confident that he will leave the first live sporting event at the Sphere as the new champion.