Sean O'Malley was a little surprised to see Merab Dvalishvili booked vs. Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311.
Bantamweight champion Dvalishvili (18-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC) defends his title against Nurmagomedov (18-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) in the Jan. 18 co-main event (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif.
After Dvalishvili dethroned O’Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) by unanimous decision at UFC 306 in September, he refused to acknowledge Nurmagomedov as No. 1 contender. He was even willing to grant O’Malley a rematch so, O’Malley was surprised to see Nurmagomedov get his wish with UFC 311 approaching so soon.