Sean O’Malley knew something was off in his first fight with Merab Dvalishvili.
In one week from now, the former UFC Bantamweight Champion will look to right a wrong against Merab Dvalishvili in the main event of UFC 316.
Sean O’Malley dropped his world title to Dvalishvili last September at UFC 306 after a tumultuous training camp. A torn labrum injury made it so that O’Malley couldn’t really grapple in preparation for the pressure-heavy wrestler.
However, the injury wasn’t the only thing bothering O’Malley in the lead-up to his second title defense.
Days before the fight at the Sphere, O’Malley received an ominous sign he was going to lose to Dvalishvili.
READ MORE: Sean O’Malley teases massive fights with Merab Dvalishvili title win at UFC 316
Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty ImagesSean O’Malley feared the worst after a dead owl showed up on his driveway before UFC 306Speaking on the Full Send Podcast, O’Malley says he’s had somewhat of a connection with owls, the animal tattooed on his chest.
Prior to facing Petr Yan in 2022, O’Malley said an owl sat by him and he took it as a sign of good luck, later beating Yan by split decision at UFC 280.
UFC 306 was a completely different story.
“Owls have been coming in and out of my life in a weird way,” O’Malley said.
“I have a bunch of owls that live in these trees around me, so I see them quite often.
“Ten days before the Merab fight, there was a dead owl in my driveway,” O’Malley revealed.
“I was like, that can’t be good…
“I didn’t wanna think about that and it sounds crazy, but I was like, f—. I just didn’t feel like I was supposed to win that f—— fight,” O’Malley said of Dvalishvili at UFC 306.
Sean O’Malley may be targeting Merab Dvalishvili’s body at UFC 316While Sean O’Malley wasn’t able to get his hand raised against Merab Dvalishvili, there are a few things the former champion can take away from his performance at UFC 306.
In round 5, O’Malley visibly hurt Dvalishvili with a teep kick to the midsection that had ‘The Machine’ circling around the cage to recover.
O’Malley continued to land on Dvalishvili with kicks and punches to the body, one shot at a time.
Ahead of his rematch with Dvalishvili at UFC 316, O’Malley drilled attacks to the body in new training footage.
“Something was seen in that 5th round of the first fight,” one fan said of O’Malley working his body shots.
“The only time Sean hurt Merab in the fight was through a body shot. Training smart,” another fan said of O’Malley.
