Merab Dvalishvili unhappy with Aljamain Sterling's loss: "It was an early stoppage"

• UFC

Sean O'Malley did a fantastic job pressurizing Aljamain Sterling and also dropped him down, but it wasn't a definite knockout as the referee stepped in when he thought Sterling had enough – Sterling wasn't showing any signs of responsiveness due to which the referee had no other choice.

However, most fans and MMA experts thought it was an early stoppage. Merab Dvalishvili believes the same and is against referee Marc Goddard's decision to stop the match. Dvalishvili scored the first round in Aljamain Sterling's favor and thought if the early stoppage didn't happen, the outcome of the event could turn out differently.

Aljmain Sterling did not make any excuse about his loss; he looks forward to making a return in 2024, and as for now, he wants to go on a vacation and get the much-needed break. Watch the knockout below:

SEAN O'MALLEY JUST KNOCKED OUT ALJAMAIN STERLING OMG? #UFC292 pic.twitter.com/DXZQt0PxDa — Jmag (@jmagings) August 20, 2023

Merab Dvalishvili's thoughts on Aljamain Sterling

In a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Merab Dvalishvili shared his thoughts on Aljamain Sterling's 'early stoppage'

"In the second round, people start booing Aljo and people affect Aljo, and Aljo made the decision to close the distance and strike," Dvalishvili said, as quoted by mmajunkie.usatoday.com. "That's when Sean got him, but Aljo was still in.

He was fighting. He was trying to grab the leg, and he turned on the side, and that's when Marc Goddard stopped him. It was my opinion, as a fighter, I say it was an early stoppage." "Me for example, when I'm fighting, I rather die, I rather go out.

Dvalishvili said: I rather sleep. I don't want you to save me, I'm a fighter. That's why I'm preparing. I rather get knocked out because we need months, sometimes one year, to fight. It's not like we're fighting every day. "You see now what happened to the champion.

If you gave them a chance, it wasn't a cold knockout, you know. That was it, but Aljo handled it very well like a champion. Me, right away, I was screaming, 'Early stoppage. Early stoppage".