This past Saturday night in the main event of UFC 306, the bantamweight title was on the line. “Suga” Sean O’Malley (18-2) was looking to successfully defend his title for a second time as he took on arguably his toughest challenge in the division in Merab Dvalishvili (18-4).
Dvalishvili got off to a really rough start in the UFC losing his first two bouts. However, entering Saturday night, he had won ten fights in a row and it was easy to see how he got it done. Dvalishvili is just suffocating inside the octagon and he never lets up throughout a 25 minute fight.
Saturday night was no different. From the opening bell, Dvalishvili used a ton of movement and forward pressure to fluster Sean O’Malley. O’Malley never got comfortable and it seemed like he was very flat inside the octagon. You could say it’s an off night, but I think the credit goes to Dvalishvili and his suffocating performance.
Throughout the first four rounds, O’Malley never gained any momentum as Dvalishvili just acted like a wet blanket for 20 minutes. O’Malley was able to hurt Dvalishvili to the body near the end of the fight, but it was too late. Dvalishvili got his hand raised and became the new bantamweight champion at Noche UFC.
What’s next after UFC 306?
There will be no immediate rematch for Sean O’Malley after Dvalishvili’s dominant victory on Saturday night so the champion is going to get a fresh opponent. Dvalishvili is such a tough matchup for anyone at 135 pounds because of his constant pressure and his grappling ability.
His striking is really coming along as well which makes him even more difficult to deal with. That said, his first challenger is probably his toughest matchup in the UFC. In fact, early betting odds have The Machine as a pretty decent sized underdog. His first title defense is going to be against Umar Nurmagomedov.
The undefeated Nurmagomedov lives up to his last name and he’s just a nightmare for anyone to deal with. He’s got that classic Nurmagomedov wrestling style but he also has very good striking. Last month, he dominated Cory Sandhagen over the course of five rounds to punch his ticket as the number one contender. Dvalishvili is the king of the division, but he’ll face his toughest challenge in his first title defense. My guess is this fight happens at the beginning of 2025.
