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UFC 306 results: Merab Dvalishvili vs. Sean O'Malley fight card highlights
By James H. Williams, USA TODAY,
2 days ago
Merab Dvalishvili defeated Sean O'Malley at UFC 306. Stephen R. Sylvanie, Imagn Images
Sean O'Malley returned to the octagon Saturday night to defend his bantamweight championship against Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306.
O'Malley entered the event having won six of his last seven fights, with the other being ruled a no-contest after an accidental eye poke. Dvalishvili earned a title match after winning 10 straight fights, nine of those wins coming by unanimous decision.
Valentina Shevchenko fought Alexa Grasso for the women’s flyweight championship in the co-main event. It was the third fight between the two fighters.
Shevchenko had lost the title to Grasso in their first fight, by submission, at UFC 285 in March 2023. Their second fight ended in a split-decision draw.
Did you miss all the action? Check out all the results and highlights from UFC 306:
First round : Dvalishvili received a warning from referee Herb Dean in the beginning seconds of the fight for trying to exchange words with someone in O'Malley's corner. The fighters spent the first three minutes of the fight testing each other out before Dvalishvili decided to bring O'Malley down to the ground and press him against the side gate of the octagon.
Second round : Dvalishvili brought O'Malley back down to the ground and landed blind strikes to his face. O'Malley attempted a triangle choke but Dean separated the fighters after he said O'Malley tried to grab the inside of Dvalishvili's glove. Dvalishvili finished the second round smothering O'Malley against the side of the octagon again, kissing his back before letting him go. O'Malley quickly answered back with a pair of punches at Dvalishvili while his back was turned before time expired.
Third round : O'Malley opened the round using his legs to kick at Dvalishvili while the fighters were upright. Dvalishvili manages to catch the leg and bring O'Malley back down to the ground before delivering a flurry of knee strikes to his face and hip. The fighters would spend most of the round standing up as O'Malley managed to stay clear of Dvalishvili's takedown attempts.
Fourth round : Dvalishvili managed to bring his opponent back down again but developed a cut on his face. O'Malley would proceed to find an opening to get back to his feet but Dvalishvili would proceed to wear out the reigning champion with his body weight and various strikes. O'Malley showed signs of fatigue and frustration as the time in the fourth round expired.
Fifth round : Dvalishvili spent the first minute and a half in the final period keeping his distance from O'Malley, searching for an opportunity to bring his opponent down. O'Malley went back to his leg and knee strike attempts during the final two minutes, trying to knock out the challenger. Dvalishvili continued to keep his distance and secured the victory after a dominating performance.
Dvalishvili was declared the winner by unanimous decision and the new bantamweight champion. It was Dvalishvili's 11th straight win.
"I feel like I'm in a dream," Dvalishvili told Joe Rogan during the post-fight interview.
Shevchenko beat Grasso, by a unanimous decision, to win the women's flyweight championship again.
Shevchenko and Grasso spent part of the first round exchanging strikes before Shevchenko brought Grasso to the ground and slowed the pace of the fight. Grasso had opportunities to put Shevchenko in submissions from underneath but Shevchenko managed to escape.
Shevchenko continued to bring Grasso down to the ground in every round, executing her game plan and winning over the judges.
Lopes landed a series of punches early before taking Ortega to the ground. Ortega would continue to absorb the blows but suffered a cut above his left eye in the process. After several minutes, Ortega managed to get back to his feet. With two minutes remaining in the first round, Lopes was already credited with landing 21 significant punches to Ortega's four punches.
Ortega began to develop a welt on his left leg after taking a few leg strikes from Lopes, who landed 10 of his 12 strikes through the first round and a half.
Lopes continued to wear down Ortega and used a big left-handed punch to rock him in the final seconds of the third round. Lopes was declared the winner of the featherweight bout by unanimous decision.
Esteban Ribovics landed a big right-handed punch before launching a flurry of punches to daze Zellhuber in the third round. Zellhuber would manage to withstand the attack and stay in the fight. In the end, Ribovics won the bout by split decision.
Both Dumont and Aldana have continued to exchange strikes. As a result, Aldana has a crimson mask on her face from a gash on her forehead. Dumont wins by unaminous decision.
Souza used a left hook to rattle Jauregui before using a rear naked chokehold to put her to sleep in the first round (3:02). It's her second win by submission.
Josh Van got the best of Edgar Chairez and was declared the winner by a unanimous decision. Van had an impressive second round after delivering several strikes to Chairez's body and head that appeared to injure and rattle him.
The referee let the fight continue and Chairez delivered a spinning-back fist to create some distance from Van before putting him to the ground with a guillotine choke. Van had taken the fight on short notice.
The early prelims and prelims will be broadcast on TV on ESPN, with a live stream available via ESPN+ . The pay-per-view main event can be purchased and streamed through ESPN+ .
The event will be held at the Sphere in Las Vegas. The Sphere is a new venue that opened on September 29, 2023, and could be found East of the Las Vegas strip. The arena held concerts and entertainment but will welcome UFC as its first live sporting event. The Sphere could have the capacity to seat at least 18,600 people.
Sean Zerillo writes "I projected the fight to end inside the distance 54% of the time (-117 implied odds) compared to consensus odds nearer to -115. O'Malley is a threat to close the show anytime during the fight. Still, I feel Merab's finishing chances – either via injury (with O'Malley's historical ankle/foot issue) or cardio-based stoppage in the championship rounds are being undersold."
MMAmania : Merab Dvalishvili defeats Sean O’Malley
Jesse Holland writes: "The challenger has the conditioning to spam takedowns for all five rounds and I’m not sure O’Malley — taken down six times by Petr Yan at UFC 280 — has the defense to stop him. I just don’t feel comfortable picking the champion on the slim chance he can land the kill shot before getting double-legged into oblivion."
MMAjunkie : Merab Dvalishvili beats Sean O'Malley by decision
Dan Tom writes "I have a feeling that my initial lean toward an O’Malley knockout is the correct call, but I also believe that Davlishvili could be one of the toughest stylistic matchups for the champ outside of Umar Nurmagomedov. For that reason, I’ll semi-reluctantly side with the arguably more durable fighter in Davlishvili to survive the early storm and pull away down the stretch (possibly earning a late finish if O’Malley’s body fails to hold together)."
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