‘That’s Why I Was Kissing Him’
Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images
The new UFC bantamweight had some head scratching moments during his title win at Noche UFC. He explained what was behind them during the post-fight press conference
Merab Dvalishvili beat Sean O’Malley on Saturday night in the main event of UFC 306, taking the bantamweight title in a fight with some extremely strange moments.
The performance was pure “Machine” — lots of dominant wrestling, along with a few bizarre decisions from Merab that left everyone wondering what was going on.
Just as the fight started, Dvalishvili disengaged from fighting “Suga” to yell at O’Malley coach Tim Welsh instead. The referee had to pause the fight to refocus the Georgian, who accused Sean’s coach of trying to distract him.
“I never pay attention to other corner, but Tim’s voice was very familiar because he was doing the same thing to [Aljamain Sterling],” Dvalishvili explained during the Noche UFC post-fight press conference. “There’s a video clip on social media, everybody already saw that, but he was doing the same thing. Like he was doing very disrespectful, ‘Merab you got to go!’ He was talking s— to me and I tell him stop it, and nobody was telling him to stop. He just kept doing this.”
Replay from UFC Noche:
It appears that Tim Welch, Sean O'Malley's coach, was giving instructions to Merab at the start of the fight.pic.twitter.com/FaPBmaZqRi
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“If you do that same thing in basketball or soccer, they will disqualify you,” he continued. “But I guess here not. I told the referee I’m sorry, and afterwards I guess he stopped it because I still heard some stuff, but I don’t care.”
That was strange enough, but Merab made it ever weirder at the end of round two when he kissed O’Malley on the back of the neck during a grappling exchange and then walked off like the round was over ... with five seconds remaining on the clock, allowing O’Malley some free punches.
“I grab his neck and he has 10 seconds left,” Dvalishvili said of the moment. “I know he can wait and he’s not going to sleep or tap from this, and I wanted to make just a little fun of him. I don’t hate the guy, just make fun of him, but at same time, give him a little kiss to show that I’m dominant.”
"What is going on?"
[ #UFC306 at @RiyadhSeason #NocheUFC LIVE NOW on @ESPNPlus PPV ] pic.twitter.com/niRiesVqJ5
— UFC (@ufc) September 15, 2024
“I control this fight, I break you. That’s why I was kissing him. But I had too much fun there [and didn’t realize the round wasn’t over]. When I let go, he followed me and he punched the back of my head and I protect myself again. I said, ‘Referee, again, I’m sorry, referee. I’m sorry.”
When UFC CEO Dana White was asked about the strange exchange, all he could do was shake his head.
“The whole kissing in the back, and standing up and walking away before the bell, that I have no idea,” he said. “Merab does some s—, you know what I mean? It was weird, but not shocking.”
Now Dvalishvili is the new UFC 135 pound champion, which means more crazy Merab moments until someone can dethrone him. We’re here for it! Who can stop “The Machine” from kissing them, we wonder?
