Merab Dvalishvili dominated Sean O’Malley with relentless pressure and takedowns to win the UFC bantamweight title at UFC 306, securing a unanimous decision victory and extending his winning streak to 11 fights.
Merab Dvalishvili delivered on his promise to dethrone Sean O’Malley. 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. Relentless pressure, takedowns, and a dominant ground game had O’Malley growing more frustrated with each passing round.
Even when O’Malley found success on the feet, Dvalishvili was quick to rag doll him back to the canvas. He controlled the action for the majority of 25 minutes to claim the UFC bantamweight title.
The judges scored the fight 49-46, 48-47, and 48-47. Dvalishvili won his 11th consecutive fight and became 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 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.”
Before his celebration, there was some early friction between Dvalishvili and O’Malley’s corner. This led to referee Herb Dean issuing a warning in a strange moment to open the fight.
Once the action got moving, O’Malley started establishing a long jab 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 popped O’Malley with a good punch before going for another takedown. He then looked for a guillotine choke before the opening round ended.
O’Malley tried playing sniper from the outside but stayed wary of the takedown. This allowed Dvalishvili to take 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. He began hammering down with punches from above.
Dvalishvili unloaded knees to the body while punishing O’Malley on the ground. He received a warning from Dean after taunting the champion with a kiss before the horn sounded.
It wasn’t until the third round when O’Malley finally found some success with his strikes. He fended off a couple of takedown attempts and unloaded stiff punches.
O’Malley came close to landing 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. He put him on the ground again.
While O’Malley managed an inside elbow that opened a cut on Dvalishvili’s face, he kept applying pressure from the top and peppering away with strikes.
Dvalishvili muscled O’Malley around on the ground, frustrating him and never giving him a second to breathe. It was rinse and repeat from Dvalishvili with another takedown to start the fifth round.
O’Malley finally inflicted some damage with a nasty front kick to the body.
With Dvalishvili wincing in pain, O’Malley tried rushing forward to do more damage but couldn’t find an opening. Dvalishvili closed the show with one more takedown ensuring he left 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 calling for a chance to sit down with his boss 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. Dana White changed my life.”
“Now look at me, I’m the UFC champion!”