When Merab Dvalishvili channeled his inner ‘Terminator’ at UFC 306 and dominated Sean O’Malley to capture the bantamweight crown, few could have predicted any form of camaraderie between the two. Their lead-up to the title clash last September was marked by tension, trash talk, and a noticeably frosty dynamic. In the Octagon, the Georgian put on a suffocating performance, overwhelming and ultimately humbling the flamboyant ‘Suga’ to seize the 135-pound throne. But in a surprising twist, the rivalry seems to have thawed. Despite their hostile history, Dvalishvili and O’Malley appear to have buried the hatchet—and are now on friendly terms.

And it seems the duo have developed a newfound respect for each other since their historic ‘Sphere’ clash. They ran into each other at the UFC Performance Institute earlier this month and even hung out together in the jacuzzi ahead of their June, UFC 316 rematch. And Dvalishvili, recounting his tune-in with O’Malley, was pretty complimentary of the rainbow-haired sniper before proudly boasting about how he took everything from ‘Suga’.

“That was so cool [hanging out with Sean O’Malley at the UFC PI] like you said the whole [thing was] positive and, you know, I always liked the guy. Like I don’t follow many 135ers on Instagram and I follow him and he’s funny, he’s cute, and he’s a good fighter, too,” ‘The Machine’ told Ariel Helwani on the latter’s podcast.

“Other than you’re talking stupid about my friend Aljamain Sterling… Yeah, it was cool. I actually feel bad for this guy. I stole his jacket, I stole his belt and I stole his fans, and, you know, I make him humble. Like he’s different guy now and that’s good, isn’t it? Good for him and good for me… life is good, God is good, and I am grateful for everything,” he added.

Well, to be fair, O’Malley will have the chance to take it all back on June 7. In fact, if ‘Suga’ beats ‘The Machine’ in their rematch, his star will shine brighter than ever. After all, to come back from a butt-whooping like he got at UFC 306, and beat such a bad stylistic matchup for him, would be a comeback of epic proportions. But for Merab, it would be disastrous and humiliating.

And as the fight approaches, perhaps the high-stakes nature of their rematch would bring out more hostility in both men. But for now, everything is cordial between the bantamweight titans, which was apparent from the snippets of their UFC PI interaction that ‘Suga’ shared on his social media.

Merab Dvalishvili promises to stand and strike with Sean O’Malley in the rematch

“Ready to go again? Your last fight was impressive, you looked good, that was a fun fight to watch,” Sean O’Malley told Dvalishvili of his UFC 311 come-from-behind unanimous decision victory over Umar Nurmagomedov. The champ, too, was eager for the rematch and even predicted a change in O’Malley’s game plan for the rematch. “When we gonna fight, I know you hit hard and then I know you’re gonna change plan,” ‘The Machine’ said.

This doesn’t take any profound insight. O’Malley was positively horrible in their first fight, so he probably won’t follow the same game plan. But still, it shows the Georgian was already thinking seriously about the fight. In fact, the champ already has his game plan worked out and isn’t afraid of sharing it with ‘Suga’.

“I’m gonna use my striking. You think I won’t? You think I’m not? Look what I did to Umar. It was striking,” Dvalishvili said to a laughing O’Malley. And you know what, ‘The Machine’ is actually brave enough to stand and strike with Sean O’Malley. Will he? We’ll have to wait until the fight to find out. But if he does, ‘Suga’ would be much closer to getting it all back from Merab. What do you think about Merab Dvalishvili’s comments about Sean O’Malley?