Sean O'Malley's latest tweet should terrify Merab Dvalishvili and UFC fans

It seems like UFC bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley may be doing whatever he can to avoid fighting No. 1 ranked contender, Merab Dvalishvili.

O'Malley won the title by defeating Aljamain Sterling in 2023. First in line for the next title shot should have been Dvalishvili but the UFC booked Marlon "Chito" Vera due, in part, to O'Malley's insistence that he avenge the only loss of his career.

He did just that by working Vera through five rounds for a unanimous decision victory on March 9. But instead of calling out Dvalishvili as many had expected he would, he called out UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria.

Thankfully, Topuria and UFC president Dana White shot that idea down.

Dvalishvili was pissed and rightly so, he'd been waiting through Sterling's reign and he wasn't willing to sit on the sidelines again.

"I’m there, O’Malley wins and then he made a call out but he don’t call me out. I was so mad," Dvalishvili said during an interview with MMA Fighting. "Like come on O’Malley, especially he’s talking about he’s going to knock me out. Please, then fight me and knock me out, show the world. Let’s fight! If you say world, you’re going to knock me out and you make fun of [my] nose. Who cares about my nose? It’s a fight. It’s a skill, it’s a fight, it’s a challenge."

Sean O'Malley finally wants to fight Merab Dvalishvili but there's a catch

Flash forward to today and it seems O'Malley is finally willing to fight Dvalishvili, but with one distressing detail.

It looks like he doesn't want to fight again until 2025. At least that's the way we interpreted his most recent tweet.

And UFC fans should be up in arms that a seemingly healthy champion is planning on sitting out nine months, at the least. Is he perhaps just hoping Dvalishvili will give up and fight someone else and then lose his No. 1 spot? Are we reading this tweet totally wrong?

It seems like even Dvalishvili thinks this tweet implies a nine month layoff.

"I have been waiting for this callout for 7 years.. but who is Marab ??? Dude .. review my name lessons I gave Henry... MERAB! And guess you need another year to prepare for the machine," he tweeted along with a photo of the the pair.

Dvalishvili has been calling out O'Malley for years, well before a title shot was even in the picture for either fighter. O'Malley has always remained silent, until now.

We'll see if O'Malley clarifies his fight timeline or if Dvalishvili will have to wait yet again.