Merab Dvalishvili’s suffocating wrestling style has brought him to the top of UFC’s bantamweight division.
Dvalishvili controlled Sean O’Malley for five rounds on Saturday night, scoring numerous takedowns and notching 10 minutes of control time to win via unanimous decision and become the new UFC Bantamweight Champion.
The title fight served as the main event for UFC 306, the promotion’s first-ever event in the cutting-edge Sphere location in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. The card had a theme of celebrating Mexican Independence Day, with short films being shown throughout the night honoring the cultural history of the Mexican people.
A total of six takedowns over the course of 25 minutes allowed Dvalishvili to limit the striking style of O’Malley. Dvalishvili focused on short and repeated ground and pound strikes when on the canvas, allowing him to score a significantly higher number of shots than what the defending champ put together.
While Dvalishvili looked to keep O’Malley away from stand-up positions, he wasn’t able to entirely avoid them. The Georgian fighter found himself in trouble late in the fight, as a series of kicks to the body from O’Malley had him visibly hurt. However, Dvalishvili was able to run out the clock and survive the exchange.
33-year-old Dvalishvili was the top bantamweight contender heading into this weekend, with an impressive UFC record of 10 consecutive wins to his name. He became an undeniably solid title contender in recent years, beating high-profile names like Petr Yan and Jose Aldo.
He is now the second active champion on the UFC roster to represent Georgia. Lightweight titleholder Ilia Topuria also flies the 3.7-million population country’s flag, along with Spain.
Dvalishvili had at one point openly refused to fight for the belt when teammate and friend Aljamain Sterling held the belt. However, after Sterling dropped the championship to O’Malley last year via second-round stoppage and moved up to featherweight, an opening was created for Dvalishvili to chase gold in the division.
Saturday gave O’Malley a chance to become the fifth-ever champion in bantamweight history to defend their belt two times or more. He was coming off an incredibly dominant win from earlier this year, out-landing Marlon Vera over the course of five rounds to secure a comfortable decision outcome.
Shevchenko Reclaims Her Throne At Flyweight
Valentina Shevchenko, one of the most decorated women in UFC history, kicked off her second reign as flyweight champion in the co-main event on Saturday night.
Shevchenko avenged her March 2023 loss to Alexa Grasso, putting together an overwhelming amount of control to sweep scorecards and win via unanimous decision.
In a fight that played out like an even more one-sided version of Saturday’s main event, Shevchenko landed eight takedowns and recorded 16 minutes of ground control en route to her decision win. Her ability to keep a hold of Grasso, slightly out-strike her and shut down grappling attempts made her the clear-cut winner by the end of the fight.
Grasso would give Shevchenko issues off her back at times, searching for submissions that the challenger would have to fend off. But these exchanges never put Shevchenko in danger of being submitted, nor did they even have an impact on scorecards.
With her win on Saturday night, Shevchenko is back on top of a division that she has ruled for nearly all of its existence.
Shevchenko became the second-ever flyweight champ in late 2018, defeating Joanna Jedrzejczyk to claim the vacant title at UFC 231. She ran through the division over the course of the next few years, defending the title seven times through more than 1,500 days.
Her initial run as champ came to a sudden end last year in an upset result, as Mexico’s Grasso scored a fourth-round rear naked choke submission. The longevity of Shevchenko’s first reign and the recognition of the result being an upset caused the UFC to book a rematch between the flyweights later that year.
But a second clash between the two didn’t help put their rivalry to rest. Their fight last September at the first-ever “Noche UFC” card controversially ended in a split draw, only extending their feud. Nearly a year after that result, Shevchenko has put an end to her saga against Grasso with an emphatic shutout result.
Looking forward, there are numerous high-ranked contenders in the division who have built their records as the rivalry between Grasso and Shevchenko played out. The new champ has numerous options for her next fight, with Manon Fiorot, Erin Blanchfield, and Rose Namajunas just being a few options.
Here are the quick results from Saturday’s card.
Main Card (10:00PM EDT / 7:00PM PDT) (PPV)
Bout 10: Sean O’Malley via Decision, Unanimous (UFC Bantamweight Championship)
Bout 9: Valentina Shevchenko def. Alexa Grasso via Decision, Unanimous (UFC Flyweight Championship)
Bout 8: Diego Lopes def. Brian Ortega via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 7: Esteban Ribovics def. Daniel Zellhuber via Decision, Split
Bout 6: Ronaldo Rodriguez def. Ode Osborne via Decision, Unanimous
Preliminary Card (8:00PM EDT / 5:00PM PDT) (ESPNews / ESPN+)
Bout 5: Norma Dumont def. Irene Aldana via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 4: Ignacio Bahamondes def. Manuel Torres via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 4:02)
Bout 3: Ketlen Souza def. Yazmin Jauregui via Submission, Rear Naked Choke (RD 1, 3:02)
Bout 2: Joshua Van def. Edgar Chairez via Decision, Unanimous
Early Prelims (7:30PM EDT / 4:30PM PDT) (ESPN+ / UFC Fight Pass)
Bout 1: Raul Rosas Jr. def. Aoriqileng via Decision, Unanimous
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