Merab Dvalishvili accuses UFC referee, Sean O'Malley's "Conor McGregor curse", Aljamain Sterling out with injury: MMA News Roundup
Merab Dvalishvili hurled some accusations at a Noche UFC referee for affecting his performance against Sean O'Malley. Elsewhere, Aljamain Sterling had to pull out of his upcoming bout.
Read on to find out today's top combat sports updates, presented by Sportskeeda MMA.
Merab Dvalishvili blames Herb Dean
Herb Dean was seen intervening with the action multiple times during the UFC 306 main event fight between Sean O'Malley and Merab Dvalishvili.
In the opening moments, he had to give a warning to 'The Machine' about engaging with O'Malley's corner. Later, he reprimanded Dvalishvili for kissing O'Malley on the nape while holding him down against the cage.
The Georgian-born fighter believes Dean was right on both occasions but called the referee out for throwing him off his game in the fifth round:
"Still respect for Herb Dean. I [tweeted] before about how great a job he did reffing my fight when he stopped the callouts from O'Malley's team and when he told me to cut the kissing. I finally watched the fight though and he definitely affected my 5th round."
He continued:
"I had O'Malleys back in a good position and giving damage with knees. But Herb kept telling me to work. So I switched my position and he told [me] again - work. I let go again and lost my dominant position. I was waiting for Sean to work so I could punch his face or grab the submission."
Is Sean O'Malley suffering from the "Conor McGregor curse"?
Former UFC fighter Alan Jouban drew a parallel between Conor McGregor and Sean O'Malley in an interview with Damon Martin.
The two fighters have long been compared, both because of their striking-heavy fighting style and exuberant star power. O'Malley has been touted as the "next Conor McGregor" on multiple occasions as well.
Jouban pointed out a less subtle similarity between the two that only comes across when they are beaten:
"[Sean] O'Malley also has the Conor McGregor curse where when he is not the hammer and he becomes the nail, and if that opponent starts to style on them - when they're not styling and they're getting styled on, it defeats them."
Jouban continued:
"When he's getting taken down and Merab's kissing him on the head and he's doing the lookaways for the kicks, he was getting styled on and the mentality, the mental warfare, the subtleties there for a guy that's a star, when somebody steals your shine, it kills those type of guys."
Aljamain Sterling out of UFC 307
Aljamain Sterling announced on his YouTube channel that he was pulling out of his upcoming UFC 307 fight against Movsar Evloev:
"Unfortunately, I have to break the news. I will not be competing in Salt Lake City at UFC 307. In sparring, I had an injury not requiring surgery but I was advised by the UFC medical staff that I will not be able to properly compete in this short of a turnaround."
Watch the exact moment Sterling suffers the injury in training (00:20):
Sterling assured fans that it was a short delay and that he would be back to the octagon before the end of the year.