Merab Dvalishvili is the new UFC bantamweight champion.
On Saturday night at The Sphere in Las Vegas, Dvalishvili mowed down Sean O’Malley to win the title via unanimous decision (49-46, 48-47×2).
Despite the tight scorecards, the winner was never really in doubt with this one. Behind his dominant wrestling and a surprisingly elusive style in the stand-up, Dvalishvili could have won all four rounds on every card.
He took O’Malley down in every round, but two judges gave O’Malley the fourth and fifth rounds. O’Malley’s biggest bright spot came in the fifth round when he appeared to hurt Dvalishvili with a T-kick to the stomach.
Dvalishvili reacted audibly to the shot, grimaced, and moved away. However, O’Malley was unable to take advantage of the situation. Dvalishvili took O’Malley down six times and held 10:03 of control. He also outlanded O’Malley 82 to 47 in significant strikes.
Most expected it to be a battle of styles coming into the fight. Dvalishvili dictated the pace and identity of the battle, but O’Malley had no answer for the Georgian’s wrestling prowess. Looking ahead, Dvalishvili is expected to defend his title against Umar Nurmagomedov.
Merab Dvalishvili’s Last 5 Results Before Defeating Sean O’Malley
- Win against Henry Cejudo by unanimous decision at UFC 298 on February 17, 2024.
- Win against Petr Yan by unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night on March 11, 2023.
- Win against José Aldo by unanimous decision at UFC 278 on August 20, 2022.
- Win against Marlon Moraes by TKO (punches) at UFC 266 on September 25, 2021.
- Win against Cody Stamann by unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night on May 1, 2021.
The latter was on hand at The Sphere for the event, and it seems clear that this is the fight the UFC has planned for Dvalishvili. O’Malley will be back. It doesn’t sound like he’ll get an immediate rematch, so it’ll be interesting to see who he fights next.
Sean O’Malley’s Last 5 Results Before Losing to Dvalishvili
- Win against Marlon Vera by unanimous decision at UFC 299 on March 9, 2024.
- Win against Aljamain Sterling by TKO (punches) at UFC 292 on August 19, 2023.
- Win against Petr Yan by split decision at UFC 280 on October 22, 2022.
- No Contest with Pedro Munhoz at UFC 276 on July 2, 2022.
- Win against Raulian Paiva by TKO (punches) at UFC 269 on December 11, 2021.
He has insisted he is a fighter on the cusp of becoming the world’s No. 1 combat sports athlete, but that wasn’t the case on Saturday.
A fight with Corey Sandhagen or Deiveson Figueiredo would seemingly make sense. Here is a look at all of the results from Noche UFC.
Noche UFC 306 Main Card Results
- Merab Dvalishvili def. Sean O’Malley via unanimous decision (48-47×2, 49-46)
- Valentina Shevchenko def. Alexa Grasso via unanimous decision (50-45×3)
- Diego Lopes defeats Brian Ortega via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)
- Esteban Ribovics defeats Daniel Zellhuber via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Ronaldo Rodriguez defeats Ode Osbourne via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 29-27)
UFC 306 Preliminary Card Results
- Norma Dumont defeats Irene Aldana via unanimous decision (30-27 x 3)
- Ignacio Bahamondes defeats Manuel Torres via TKO at 4:02 of Round 1
- Ketlen Souza defeats Yazmin Jauregui via submission at 3:02 of Round 1 (Rear-naked choke)
- Joshua Van defeats Edgar Chairez via unanimous decision (29-28 x3)
UFC 306 Early Preliminary Card Results
- Raul Rosas Jr. defeats Aoriqileng via unanimous decision (29-28 x 3)
