MMA fighter Merab Dvalishvili effortlessly defeated Sean O’Malley in the main event of UFC 316 on Saturday night in Newark, NJ, securing a third-round modified choke in their rematch to retain the bantamweight championship.
With President Donald Trump watching from cageside, Dvalishvili (20-4) emphatically displayed his wrestling base to tire out the former champion and make an argument as one of the sport’s best bantamweights, perhaps of all time.
Dvalishvili, who won at 4:42 of the third round for his 13th consecutive victory, said he would welcome his next title defence against Cory Sandhagen (18-5), a winner of four of his last five fights.
“You’re the man, let’s go,” Dvalishvili said, indicating that he would be interested in fighting Sandhagen next.
O’Malley (18-3) fell to Dvalishvili last September by unanimous decision, relinquishing his title. O’Malley confirmed the loss was a minor setback, reassuring of a steady return.
“100%, thank you guys for coming out,” O’Malley said.
The women’s bantamweight title changed hands in the co-main event, as Kayla Harrison submitted Julianna Pena with a second-round kimura.
Harrison and Pena embraced in the Octagon afterwards, showing utmost class for one another after Harrison controlled every aspect of the fight. Harrison said during her post-fight interview that her weight cut was so draining on Thursday night that she “wanted to quit,” but it would have been a mistake in her eyes, given that most fighters in MMA don’t win a UFC title.
Harrison (19-1) called out Pena’s (13-6) former rival, Amanda Nunes. Nunes (23-5) is a former two-division champion who retired in 2023. As time passed, she teased a comeback. It now seems inevitable, as Harrison and Nunes posed for a face-off and talked of a bout later this year as the Prudential Center crowd beamed.
Middleweight Joe Pyfer made good on his UFC return, defeating TUF alumnus Kelvin Gastelum by unanimous decision 29-28, 29-27, 30-27. Pyfer (14-3) has won his last two outings, whereas Gastelum (19-10 MMA) is in the midst of a slump.
The soon-to-be UFC Hall of Fame “Fight Wing” inductee and ex-interim middleweight title challenger, Gastelum has yet to win back-to-back fights in six years. His last win came last June, defeating Daniel Rodriguez (19-5) by unanimous decision.
Bantamweight Mario Bautista shut down the UFC debut of Patchy Mix, winning a one-sided unanimous decision 29-28, 30-27-30-27. The fight primarily stayed on the feet, as Bautista (16-2) has won eight in a row while Mix (20-2) was presumed to be a possible title challenger upon entry into the promotion.
The former Bellator champion must assess what went wrong before attempting to find himself in the top-15.
Kevin Holland kicked off the UFC 316 main card in style, securing a D’Arce choke over Vicente Luque at 1:03 of the second round.
Holland (28-13) has now won three of his last five, emphasising the need to remain a prominent welterweight contender. Luque (23-11-1), who resides in New Jersey via Brazil, has lost two of his last three.
