Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili didn’t get a chance to get too close following the pre-UFC 306 press conference, as both the champion and challenger had plenty to say.

After a lively question and answer session on stage, O’Malley took off his jacket — the same jacket Dvalishvili took from him at UFC 288 — and walked toward his opponent, while UFC CEO Dana White made sure no one got too close.

O’Malley immediately started yelling at Dvalishvili and seemed to promise to knock him out. That’s exactly what he predicted during the press conference.

“I think I’m going to do it the way I always do it,” O’Malley said of how he plans to finish Dvalishvili. “I’m going to put this dude face first.”

Later in the press conference, when O’Malley said he needed a knockout to move closer to an eventual transition to boxing with a potential match against Gervonta “Tank” Davis, it was Dvalishvili who responded.

“Keep dreaming,” Dvalisvhili yelled. “Nobody has knocked me out yet. Keep dreaming Sean O’Malley. You don’t knock Chito Vera out (in your last fight).”

That earned him a venomous response from O’Malley, who reminded him that he had won the bantamweight title from Dvalishvili’s friend and teammate Aljamain Sterling.

“I knocked Aljo out, didn’t I?” O’Malley said. “That was just lucky as a p*ck. I keep getting lucky. It’s crazy. In every fight I get lucky. Somehow, I get lucky.”