Terrion Ware has fought both Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili in the UFC.
“The hype was definitely real,” Ware says in an exclusive interview with talkSPORT.com, discussing the build-up to his clash with O’Malley.
“You could see the makings of somebody that could become a champion.”
Ware, 39, welcomed O’Malley to the UFC in December 2017, losing two rounds to one against the champion to be in what was a tight unanimous decision defeat.
Nine months later, ‘Flash’ found himself in the Octagon with current UFC bantamweight king Dvalishvili, and again went three rounds with his opponent, although he was convincingly beaten in the end.
Fast forward seven years and Dvalishvili rules the 135lb division, with the chance to cement his legacy by defeating O’Malley for the second time at UFC 316.
The pair headline a stacked New Jersey card as Julianna Pena defends her women’s bantamweight title against Kayla Harrison in the co-main event at the Prudential Center.
Dvalishvili cruised to a unanimous decision win when he met O’Malley for the first time in September at Las Vegas’ iconic Sphere.
Their rematch has seemingly divided the MMA community, with many backing the superior wrestler in Dvalishvili to do it all again, while others believe O’Malley can catch the Georgian this time around and score a spectacular knockout.
But what does the man who has actually been in there with both O’Malley and Dvalishvili believe the outcome will be on Saturday?
“MMA is really, really hard to predict,” Ware explained.
“A lot of times you can kind of go off history. History has shown that when you have the striker versus the grappler, and the grappler is able to do what Merab did in the first fight…
“I don’t think enough time has passed where O’Malley is going to be able to close that gap and completely shut down his wrestling game and stop him.
“I think [O’Malley] will definitely do better, I definitely think he will hurt Merab once or twice in this fight. But my prediction, I think the same thing’s going to happen.
“It’s going to be a closer fight. I got it 48-47, Merab winning by decision, just basically going out there and trying to grind him on the cage. And taking him down.”
Ware started training MMA at the age of 24 after pursuing a professional baseball career through a scholarship in college.
However, an arm injury derailed his initial dream and he instead decided that martial arts was his next calling.
MMA then became the only passion Ware wanted to do, as he achieved his major goal to make the UFC in the summer of 2017.
Terrion Ware’s UFC Record
Four Defeats
Loss – Merab Dvalishvili via unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night in September 2018
Loss – Tom Duquesnov via unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night in March 2018
Loss – Sean O’Malley via unanimous decision at The Ultimate Fighter: Finale in December 2017
Loss – Cody Statmann via unanimous decision a UFC 213 in July 2017
He lost to Cody Stamann on his debut with the promotion, before facing O’Malley next.
“The way that I wanted to approach [the O’Malley fight] was to not try to play his striking game that he seems to suck so many people into,” Ware said.
“He’s very, very great at that mid-rang, feinting and drawing you into his counters, and a lot of guys seem to just play that game with him – and I don’t understand why.
“But I just remember being in that fight with him and just thinking to myself, ‘Man, he’s really long and really fast,’ …
“That was the first time I saw that at that level. Being in there with him, it was a different level of striking, it was the first time I felt outstriked at my own game.
“I could see the makings of it, a guy that tall and that fast in that division – the biggest thing for him was going to be how well can he stop the takedowns.”
Six years and seven victories later, O’Malley was holding the UFC bantamweight title after knocking out Aljamain Sterling in August 2022.
However, as Ware predicted, O’Malley failed to stop the relentless takedowns of Dvalishvili, after retaining the strap by defeating Marlon Vera, and he lost the bantamweight title to ‘The Machine’ last September.
“I’ve had a bunch of people ask me, ‘How strong was he?’ The funny thing is, he wasn’t very strong,” Ware said, analysing Dvalishvili’s fight style.
“What he was is very, very technical and he’s very good at positioning. If you go to make a move, he had a counter for it.
“You can move with Merab. He’s not vert strong, but that’s a part of his genius in his grappling, and I don’t think people take into account his IQ when it comes to fighting and grappling.
“What he does is he makes you grapple at his pace, knowing or betting on that you’re not going to be able to keep up.
UFC 316 pay-per-view card
Two title fights at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey
Merab Dvalishvili vs. Sean O’Malley – Men’s bantamweight title fight
Julianna Peña vs. Kayla Harrison – Women’s bantamweight title fight
Kelvin Gastelum vs. Joe Pyfer – Middleweight
Mario Bautista vs. Patchy Mix – Bantamweight
Vicente Luque vs. Kevin Holland – Welterweight
“And you see him just drown guys and he gets TKOs, or you get him in the third or fourth round, they just stop trying at a certain point…
“It’s a scary thing to prepare for, especially as a striker, the last thing I want to think about is, ‘Oh man, this guy’s gonna be hanging on my leg the whole fight, and I have to fight him off.’
“It’s the last thing you want, and I know the position O’Malley is in.”
Ware concluded by explaining that he does see the fight playing out very similarly to the first one.
He doesn’t believe Dvalishvili will change his game plan and will get on O’Malley’s legs from the off.
‘Flash’ says Dvalishvili will attempt to make the main event at UFC 316 ‘boring,’ while O’Malley needs to make it ‘a wild, exciting fight.’
Ware said O’Malley can’t let Dvalishvili take him down every 20 to 30 seconds, as he will end up in a wrestling match with someone who is better than him in those positions.
“O’Malley has to really do a good job in the early minutes of the first and second round of stuffing him.
“Then, give himself an opportunity, for a minute or two, to really get his striking going and then catch him, especially with those knees and things up the middle.
“He’s very long, and he can hit you from a distance. He has to make Merab cover that distance and make him pay when he tries to do so.”
UFC 316 takes place on Saturday, June 7, at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
The preliminary card is scheduled to get started at 11pm UK time.
The main card will begin at around 3am on Sunday morning before Dvalishvili’s headline clash with O’Malley at approximately 5am.
