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Coach Conversation UFC 306: O'Malley vs Dvalishvili
Prior To Saturday’s Bantamweight Title Fight, New England Cartel Head Man Tyson Chartier Breaks Down The Championship Matchup
Ahead of every championship fight, UFC staff writer E. Spencer Kyte will sit down with one the sharpest coaching minds in the sport to break down the action and provide UFC fans with insights into each championship pairing from the men that spend their days getting these elite athletes prepared to compete on the biggest stage in the sport.
As we count down the days until Sean O’Malley puts his bantamweight title on the line against Merab Dvalishvili in the main event of Riyadh Season Noche UFC at The Sphere, Tyson Chartier of the New England Cartel dives into the matchup and breaks down how he thinks things could play out.
Best Trait of Each Fighter
Kyte: All right, Coach — what’s the best trait of “Suga” Sean O’Malley and what’s the best trait of the challenger, Merab Dvalishvili?
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Chartier: Obviously, with Merab it’s his gas tank and his aggression, and his wrestling. He has high-level wrestling, but it’s the cardio and the aggression that makes his wrestling so good. It’s second-to-none and “The Machine” is a very suitable nickname.
O’Malley, it’s his ability to pick his shots, manage distance — he’s got phenomenal footwork — and I think he’s a very intelligent fighter. I think they go in there, Tim (Welch) puts together pretty good ideas of how to break down these guys, how to attack certain guys, and they go out there and stick to the plan.
I think with Sean, it’s his footwork, his accuracy, and his ability to manage distance and use range.
Kyte: I’m glad you started with the aggression and cardio for Merab because I think we have a tendency to just say, “It’s his wrestling,” and I don’t think it’s all about the wrestling.
That’s the action that we see, but he’s not a great wrestler in the Khabib sense; he’s not putting you down and manhandling you. I understand that it’s designed to be different, it’s designed to exhaust you by constantly making you get back up, and then putting you right back down, breaking you that way, but that, to me, is more about his relentlessness and forcing you to deal with that aspect of things.
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He’ll shoot 50 times and you have to defend 50 shots.
Chartier: And that’s actually one of my worries for Megan in this fight is — I always say when we’re wrestling that you should never brag about how many takedowns you get, because you shouldn’t really have a bunch of takedowns in a round because that means your top game sucks.
Obviously, that’s being a little tongue-in-cheek, but if you’re taking a guy down 15 times in a fight, that means they got up 14 times. If you were a great wrestler, people aren’t getting up that often, but, like you said, that’s his style.
But it’s not a smart thing to do against someone like O’Malley.
Kyte: This is the fight where you want to keep him on the ground or pinned against the fence. You need to maintain control here.
Chartier: Kind of like he did with (Jose) Aldo; a lot of that fight was just against the fence.
He’s shown he’s able to do what’s necessary to win the fight, but O’Malley is not the guy that you can let up on purpose to take down again, because you’re probably gonna get lit up, and Merab’s been rocked in a couple fights.
Kyte: He’s certainly hittable.
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Chartier: (Marlon) Moraes had him hurt and almost took him out, and then I think (Henry) Cejudo hit him early before Merab just took over.
Kyte: When it comes to O’Malley’s game, all those positives you touched on, they feel like they all mesh together perfectly — the vision and ability to pick shots combines with the range, combines with the footwork, and they all work in concert to make him hard to hit, and he’s great at picking his shots.
Main Card Preview | UFC 306: O'Malley vs Dvalishvili
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Main Card Preview | UFC 306: O'Malley vs Dvalishvili
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Is there a way to prepare for that kind of fighter? For that kind of movement and precision?
Chartier: There’s not really many guys that move like him, so preparation is not really going to be happening in the gym.
Merab does have a style that, in theory, could do okay against O’Malley. If you’re gonna give him fits, it’s gonna be someone doing something like Merab does. If there is a style that everyone wants to see him go against, it’s a style like Merab — a guy that is gonna have the cardio, has shown that he can take shots and still go.
I think Merab has to just do what Merab does. I don’t think he has the skill set to do anything else. I don’t want to say he’s a one-trick pony, but that’s his style, that’s what he does, and he’s great at it. He just has to be Merab in this fight and see how it goes.
He’s fought the exact same against every fighter and he’s won 10 straight, so he’s just got to keep doing what he’s been doing and see if it works. The one silver lining I will point out is that Aldo isn’t easy to take down, and he still figured out a way to win that fight, so that is something he could do with O’Malley.
I’m excited for this one.
Path to Victory for Each Fighter
Kyte: We just kind of went over the approach for Merab here — “Do Merab Things” — so what about for O’Malley? What’s his avenue to defending this title again?
Full Fight | Merab Dvalishvili vs Henry Cejudo
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Full Fight | Merab Dvalishvili vs Henry Cejudo
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Chartier: He’s got to take the cage and stay mentally strong, because this style is one that can break you mentally.
You saw in the Petr Yan fight, he was so frustrated, so you’ve got to stay out that mindset, keep from getting annoyed, because the minute he gets you there, he’s won.
O’Malley has to be okay with losing a couple boring rounds if that’s how it goes and staying with the plan, because you can catch him. He’s shown that he’s been hurt before. He’s shown that he’s not able to hold guys down. You know you’re gonna be able to get back up, so you just have to resist the urge to get anxious and frustrated because that’s just going to tire you out more.
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He’s got a style that is going to wear on you, so I’m sure they’re coming in prepared for that type of cardio push. Stick to the basics, use your footwork — it’s gonna be your best takedown defense — manage the distance, and don’t look for the kill shot. Merab will eat a knee to the chest to get a takedown, so I think you have to be okay with touching.
Just don’t get frustrated.
Kyte: To me it’s gotta be a little similar to the (Marlon) Vera fight, where you just go out there and land, land, land; keep yourself in space, defend the takedowns, but stay active, chamber some of the kicks a little, and just circle and use the jab.
X Factor
Kyte: If there were one thing that was going to significantly impact how this fight plays out — that swings it in one direction or the other — what would it be?
Chartier: Is Merab able to hold O’Malley down?
I think if he can get on top and decides, “We’re fighting a sniper here, so we need to be a little more diligent about holding him down,” will he be a little more urgent to not let him up? I’m interested to see if they implement that strategy or if they’re okay with the “death by a thousand cuts” of take him down, take him down, take him down.
Kyte: Do they switch it up a little or just stick to what has worked?
Chartier: Do they make him earn the get-up a little more? It almost seems like he’s perfectly fine taking you down, cutting you loose, and then taking you down again, because he knows he’s gonna sink you, but that’s a risky strategy against someone like O’Malley.
So I’m interested to see if they have a little bit more grit in terms of trying to stay on top.
Kyte: And when you do get him down there — and this is one of the knocks against a lot of grapplers — you’ve got to do some damage.
He’s not a submission guy, so you know he’s not going hunting, so put some work in and do some damage. If you get him there, you’ve got to start making him pay. That’s where Merab can land his shots, because at range, he’s not catching O’Malley with the looping overhands he’s throwing at everyone else.
His hands have gotten better since he’s been in the UFC, unquestionably, but that’s not the fight you want to have here. If you get him to the ground, you’ve got to score every chance you have, because he’s going to score when you’re up and on your feet.
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It’s going to be super-interesting because I think his mindset really is, “I’m gonna take you down 97,000 times and it’s going to break you.” He wants to take you down, let you get back up, and then take you down three seconds later, and eventually, everybody just goes, “Are you kidding me?”
Chartier: You see it on their faces, when they break.
Kyte: He puts them down, they get up, and they’re excited to get up, and he’s right back on their hips, drags them back down, and they think, “This is a nightmare.”
Sean O'Malley Interview | UFC 306
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Sean O'Malley Interview | UFC 306
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I don’t think O’Malley will break that way — I think he is one of those guys that is rock-solid in those big moments and there is no really shaking him — but it’s going to be interesting.
That first takedown attempt, that first interaction is going to be interesting because how it goes will be a signal of what’s to come. It’s just a flowchart of questions, and I can’t wait to see it.
One Coaching Curiosity
Kyte: If there is a little something in this matchup that catches your eye, that piques your interest from a coaching standpoint, what is it?
Chartier: I think it’s the same thing — I’m just really curious to see how O’Malley deals with Merab’s style.
Is he going to be apprehensive because he’s worried about the takedown or is he going to go on the offensive because “I know you’re going to shoot, so I’m coming with big offense up the middle” to attach him? Or does he sit back waiting to defend takedowns and work off that, because you know Merab is going to run forward and try to take you down right away.
Does he go forward and meet him in the middle or does he have his defensive weapons out?
I’m also interested to see if Merab looks at that Vera fight and thinks, “I should attack the body,” which prompts him to start ripping kicks to the body or targeting the body whenever he’s inside.
Obviously, you don’t know how it would have went, but if that fight had another minute left, does “Chito” win that fight? O’Malley probably would have recovered, and he’s not afraid to lean into the theatrics, so we don’t really know how bad that body shot was…
Kyte: It looked pretty bad.
Chartier: Oh, it was — he wasn’t faking it!
Kyte: “Chito” can rip and he got him clean.
Chartier: Yeah, so I’m interested to see if Merab thinks, “I’ve gotta touch his body. Over five rounds, he’s not gonna be able to withstand this.”
Kyte: Sean (Madden) and I talk about it all the time — it’s just such a smart approach no matter what because you’re just going to start pulling away at some of that energy, that stamina, that conditioning; it’s just taxing.
MORE UFC 306: Fighters Talk About Fighting In The Sphere
If you get stuck in that Aldo-type fight where you’re not getting him down, but you’re against the fence, hammer away at him.
Chartier: Gonna be interesting to see if he does it.
Kyte: I’m curious to see what the moment does with Merab. Is he a guy that is built for this sort of moment where it’s all eyes on you, big fight, big opportunity?
Now’s his time. It’s been fun being “Kooky Merab” but is he also able to be “World Champion Merab” and “Pay-Per-View Headliner Merab” or you’re the fun sidekick guy we have laughs with?
Can you be the star, the leading man or are you always going to be the Kevin Hart in all those movies with The Rock and Kevin Hart? He’s looked great, but this is the one — what have you got?
We talk about it all the time when someone is in this spot for the first time: are you ready for this? Are you built for this?
Chartier: Yeah. I’m really interested to see how Sphere impacts the fighters, too.
It feels like it might be a distraction and you’re fighting in this environment where you can be on your back and there is a giant video screen surrounding everything. It’s definitely going to be an interesting situation to see.
The minute they didn’t have fans — not having a distraction was a distraction, and now they’re gonna have this 360-degree, LED panel. It’s gonna be interesting to see how all that plays out.
You know it’s such a special, unique moment, so what does that do?
Kyte: It’s going to be fascinating.
UFC 306: O'Malley vs Dvalishvili took place live from Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada on September 14, 2024. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!