Merab Dvalishvili dethrones Sean O’Malley to win title with suffocating performance in UFC 306 main event

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Merab Dvalishvili delivered on his promise to dethrone Sean O’Malley as he put on a suffocating performance to cap off UFC 306 on Saturday night from Sphere in Las Vegas.

The fight played out almost exactly as Dvalishvili envisioned it with relentless pressure, takedowns and a dominant ground game with O’Malley growing more and more frustrated with each passing round. Even in the moments when O’Malley did find success on the feet, Dvalishvili was quick to rag doll him back to the canvas as he controlled the action for the majority of 25 minutes to claim the UFC bantamweight title

The judges ultimately scored the fight 49-46, 48-47 and 48-47 with Dvalishvili winning his 11th consecutive fight and now becoming a UFC champion for the first time.

“Today I wasn’t feeling any different than any other day,” Dvalishvili said following his win. “I was actually curious why I wasn’t feeling that I was fighting for a UFC belt. Today was a normal day for me. As you see, I don’t spend my energy. Crazy. I feel I’m in a dream. Today, I’m the best fighter in the UFC. I proved!

“I can go 15 more rounds like this. I have a belt, I win, everybody knows I dominated this guy.”

Prior to his celebration, there was actually some early friction between Dvalishvili and O’Malley’s corner, which led to referee Herb Dean issuing a warning in a strange moment to open the fight. Once the action actually got moving, O’Malley started to establish a long jab that was popping Dvalishvili in the face but that didn’t deter the Georgian from rushing forward for his first takedown against the cage.

The fight got back to the feet but Dvalishvili actually popped O’Malley with a good punch before going for another takedown and then looking for a guillotine choke before the opening round ended.

O’Malley was doing his best to play a sniper from the outside but he was clearly staying wary of the takedown, which allowed Dvalishvili to take the center of the cage and march him down. That led to a third takedown from Dvalishvili as he planted O’Malley on the canvas again and began hammering down with punches from above.

Dvalishvili also started unloading knees to the body as he continued punishing O’Malley on the ground before he received a warning from Dean after he taunted the champion with a kiss before the horn sounded.

It wasn’t until the third round when O’Malley finally started to find some success with his strikes after he fended off a couple of takedown attempts and then unloaded with some stiff punches. O’Malley also came close to a knee up the middle that definitely got Dvalishvili’s attention.

Just when it looked like O’Malley was settling into a rhythm on the feet, Dvalishvili timed a beautiful takedown to put him on the ground again. While O’Malley did manage a nice inside elbow that opened a cut on Dvalishvili’s face, the top ranked bantamweight contender just kept applying pressure from the top and peppering away with strikes.

Dvalishvili was just muscling O’Malley around on the ground, frustrating the champion and never giving him a second to breathe. It was rinse and repeat from Dvalishvili with another takedown to start the fifth round but O’Malley finally inflicted some damage with a nasty front kick to the body.

With Dvalishvili clearly wincing in pain, O’Malley tried to rush forward to do some more damage but he just couldn’t find an opening. Dvalishvili closed the show with one more takedown to ensure he would leave Sphere with the title wrapped securely around his waist.

After waiting so long for his opportunity to fight for a UFC title, Dvalishvili made the most of his moment by taking out arguably the biggest active superstar on the roster. Of course there won’t be any shortage of challenges for him — including a potential showdown against Umar Nurmagomedov after he dispatched Cory Sandhagen in his most recent outing.

For his part, Dvalishvili preferred to call for a chance to sit down with his boss to have a discussion about his future before discussing what comes next.

“I just won the belt,” Dvalisvhili said. “I respect and love Dana White, whatever he wants. Now I’m champion, I want to be close. I want him to know me more better. I respect him. Dana White changed my life. Now look at me, I’m the UFC champion!”