UFC 316: Dvalishvili wins rematch with O'Malley and proves himself as champion

At UFC 316 , which took place on Saturday night (7), Merab Dvalishvili defeated Sean O'Malley again and retained the organization's bantamweight belt.

O'Malley started the fight with a spinning punch and good movement, showing himself to be completely different in this rematch. Merab, in turn, cornered him against the fence before even landing the first blow, managing to dominate the challenger on the ground with two takedowns and a good volume of blows.

The former champion returned to the octagon a little more cautiously and tried to find the right distance, while Dvalishvili made him move backwards, increasingly closing the gap. In the final stretch of the second round, Sean landed a few blows, in addition to defending himself from four takedown attempts.

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With a certain sense of urgency, Merab started the third round already wanting to take down O'Malley and succeeded on the second attempt. His dominance on the ground lasted more than two minutes, while Sean did not stop moving in an attempt to get up.

The former champion managed to stay on his feet for a few seconds, but was knocked down twice more and ended up being submitted by choke. With the victory, Merab Divalishvili retained the bantamweight title.

Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O'Malley faced each other for the first time in September 2024; at the time, the American was bantamweight champion, but had an unrecognizable performance in the octagon.

The Georgian ended up winning the fight after five rounds, by unanimous decision of the judges, becoming the new champion of the category. Later, Sean apologized for the below-par performance and has already asked for a rematch.

Before their rematch, however, Dvalishvili made his first title defense; the challenger was Umar Nurmagomedov, who also lost after five rounds, by decision of the three judges.

Now, the bantamweight belt holder's next fight should be against Cory Sandhagen, ranked fourth in the division.