😬 Sean O’Malley isn’t happy with the promotion for his fight with Merab Dvalishvili. #UFC
306:
“I’m a little frustrated with the promotion.
“Sphere, sphere, show.” I’m the one doing the interviews, not the sphere. Let’s promote Shawn vs Merab, the Suga show, etc…
pic.twitter.com/iYTbeehmiV
— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight)
August 23, 2024
As the defending champion in the main event, Sean O’Malley believes the focus at UFC 306 should be on him, not the venue.
O’Malley (18-1) will defend his bantamweight title against Merab Dvalishvili (17-4) in the main event of UFC 306 on Sept. 14 at The Sphere in Las Vegas. The event is also UFC’s annual Mexican Independence Day celebration and is billed as the most glamorous venue in the history of combat sports.
UFC has also taken the step of partnering with Turki Alarcik, chairman of the board of directors of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority (GEA), for the event, also called Riyadh Season Noche UFC. Alarcik has also publicly stated that the event is a rival to the Canelo Alvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga boxing match, which will take place on the same night in the same city. UFC head Dana White has also confirmed that the Sphere spectacle will be a one-off event for the promotion. Both White and Andrew Schleimer, chief financial officer of UFC parent company TKO Group Holdings, have acknowledged that the card will burn the company’s pockets. The company is expected to benefit in the long term, if not in the short term.
But O’Malley isn’t keen on letting his star be overshadowed by the size of the venue – “Sugar” is unhappy that the event is being billed as a Sphere card rather than a title defence against Dvalishvili – but the bantamweight champion expects that to change with just three weeks to go until fight day.
“I’m super excited. It’s like last weekend was the last pay-per-view. It’s always the next pay-per-view that gets talked about. So now that that fight is over, it’s Sphere next. I’m kind of annoyed with the promotion of the Sphere, the show,” the 29-year-old said in an interview with Michael Bisping. “I’m the one doing the interviews, not the Sphere. I’m going to promote Shawn vs. Merab, the Sugar show. I’m going to do it, I’m going to try my best. But reality is reality. The Sphere is going to be legendary, it’s going to be awesome, it’s going to be cool. But I think in the next few weeks, things are really going to start moving.”
O’Malley, unbeaten since 2020, won the title last year by knocking out Dvalishvili’s close friend Aljamain Sterling and defended it in a dominant unanimous decision victory over Marlon Vera in March of this year. Meanwhile, Dvalishvili beat former champion Henry Cejudo by unanimous decision in February to extend his winning streak to 10, the longest in the division’s history.
