Sean O'Malley Says Song Yadong Beats Merab Dvalishvili — and Picks the Knockout

The former champion has fought both men: two losses to Merab, a win over Song in January. His read on the bantamweight matchup nobody has booked yet is not a hedge — it's a finish.

Sean O'Malley knows the two men better than anyone talking about them. He lost his title to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306, lost the rematch by submission at UFC 316, and beat Song Yadong by decision in January. So when O'Malley spent this week explaining why Song beats Merab, it landed as something more than podcast talk.

Breaking down Petr Yan's win over Dvalishvili at UFC 333 on Bradley Martyn's RAW TALK podcast, O'Malley walked through how Yan's short frame and low guard blunted Merab's wrestling as the fight wore on — and then applied the same logic one seat over. "Merab's a motherf—er, but Song Yadong could beat Merab, too," he said. "Song is the same size as those little f—ers, and he's explosive as f—. He's hard to take down, he hits hard. If Song and Merab fight next, Song could definitely win."

On his own YouTube channel, reacting to UFC 333, he went further — from a win to a finish. "Three-round fight, Song Yadong knocks out Merab for sure. He's just so explosive and he's just gonna be hard to take down. He's been wrestling a lot; he's been grappling a lot. His reaction time is so f—ing fast. I think he can put Merab's lights out."

The form backs the enthusiasm. Song (24-9-1), the division's No. 2 contender, has stopped two straight opponents since the O'Malley loss: a guillotine submission of Deiveson Figueiredo in Macau in May, then a second-round knockout of Umar Nurmagomedov in Shanghai in August, in a fight Song entered as a heavy underdog. Merab (21-6), meanwhile, comes off losing the trilogy decider to Yan in Abu Dhabi last weekend, the third fight of their series settling the rivalry against him.

Merab's response to O'Malley's verdict was a laugh, not a feud. Commenting on Instagram under a post carrying the comments, he wrote: "I still like you, Bro" — with a laughing emoji. The two have been friendly since their rivalry ended, and the matchup itself is one Merab has already entertained: before UFC 333 he said that if he beat Yan, Song was next, and he remains open to facing a top-five name he has never fought.

Hovering over all of it is the title shot O'Malley actually wants. He is campaigning to be Yan's next challenger himself — "I'm fighting Petr Yan next. Book it," he said in the same UFC 333 reaction — and Yan name-dropped Song in Abu Dhabi, with Dana White calling the choice between Song and O'Malley "a good problem to have." Whoever misses out on Yan is left staring at the division's other open door, and that door is Merab.

Nothing is booked. But the man who has shared the cage with both of them has now said it twice, in two different rooms: Song Yadong is the wrong size, the wrong speed and the wrong style for The Machine — and in a three-round fight, he switches the lights out.