Sean O'Malley shares what really happened when Merab Dvalishvili "stole" his jacket after Aljamain Sterling fight
Sean O'Malley recently disclosed what transpired when Merab Dvalishvili took his jacket last year after UFC 288. O'Malley claimed that he mistook Dvalishvili for a jacket holder while giving him the jacket.
O'Malley and Dvalishvili have not stopped taking jabs at each other on social media and in various interviews ahead of their bantamweight title fight in the main event of Noche UFC 306, which is set to go down on Sep. 14 at the Las Vegas Sphere.
In a recent interview with TMZ Sports, the reigning champion opened up about his jacket incident last year, making a dig at 'The Machine'.
For context, the incident happened when Aljamain Sterling called out O'Malley following his successful bantamweight title defense against Henry Cejudo at UFC 288. 'Sugar' was consequently brought into the octagon for a staredown.
As the two insulted one another, things boiled up. O'Malley had taken off his jacket during this time, which Dvalishvili hilariously grabbed and tried on himself.
According to O'Malley, Dvalishvili did not steal his jacket. Rather, the American fighter gave it to the Georgian, thinking the latter was a person the UFC had brought into the octagon to hold his jacket. O'Malley said:
''He [Dvalishvili] didn't steal my jacket, you won't see a video on the internet of him stealing my jacket. You will see me handing him my jacket, I thought he was a jacket holder, I thought the UFC knew I was gonna take my jacket off and they had someone in place for me to hold. He looks just like every f***ing door guy. I take my Jacket off, I hand it to him, he's got a huge f***ing nose, I thought I was going to hook it on there and supposedly f***king Merab stole my jacket.''
Check out Sean O'Malley's comments below (3:09):
Merab Dvalishvili discusses taking Sean O'Malley's jacket at UFC 288
Merab Dvalishvili's humorous social media routines have made him one of the UFC's most entertaining fighters. Last year, Dvalishvili and Sean O'Malley got into an altercation when the top bantamweight contender took the latter's red jacket.
Ahead of his title fight against O'Malley at Noche UFC 306, Dvalishvili spoke to ESPN MMA about the jacket incident, saying:
''When he [O'Malley] take jacket off, ofcourse I grab his jacket. I take the jacket because I want to make fun of him and because he was so stupid and dumb and that's why I did that.''
Check out Merab Dvalishvili's comments below: