Merab Dvalishvili’s long-standing wish will finally be fulfilled in a few weeks. ‘The Machine’ is set to take on reigning bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley for the belt at UFC 306 at the Sphere in Las Vegas on September 14. UFC CEO Dana White announced this fight via an Instagram live session last week. “This is good; he has finally mentioned my name, and now we are going to fight. Because I have been calling him for six years, and he has been ignoring me. It feels good that he finally wants to fight me,” said Dvalishvili in an interview.
The O’Malley vs. Dvalishvili bout has been in the works since March. In February, Dvalishvili defeated Henry Cejudo by unanimous decision at UFC 298 before O’Malley beat Marlon Vera at UFC 299 in March. O’Malley, known for his electrifying fighting style, will seek a third consecutive title after notable victories over Aljamain Sterling and Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera. O’Malley has maintained a six-fight winning streak, excluding a no-contest against Pedro Munhoz. His challenger, Dvalishvili, boasts a remarkable 10-fight win streak and has long been at the forefront of title contention. Due to his friendship with Sterling, he refused to fight him for the belt. With Sterling moving to the featherweight division, Dvalishvili finally gets a shot at bantamweight gold.
In the co-main event, UFC flyweight champion Alexa Grasso will face former champion Valentina Shevchenko in a trilogy fight. The two fighters have fought twice before. The first meeting was UFC 285 in March 2023 and served as the card’s co-main event. Grasso defeated Shevchenko with a fourth-round rear-naked choke. The victory shocked most of the world as Shevchenko was primed to defend her title for a whopping eighth time. The second meeting took place six months later at the inaugural Noche UFC. The fight was closely contested and lasted all 25 minutes. Though everyone had an opinion, the only ones that mattered were the three judges’, who collectively scored the fight a split draw.
UFC 304 in Manchester ended with a packed house at Co-op Live left in stunned silence as Belal Muhammad closed out the show by wrestling the UFC welterweight title away from home favourite Leon Edwards. The surging challenger took the fight to Edwards straight out of the chute, putting him on the canvas in each of the first two rounds while showing quicker, more dangerous hands to race out to an early lead. After the champion worked back into the fight in the third by taking Muhammad down, the Chicago native went back on the wrestling offensive in the fourth to enter the final round with a 3-1 lead. Muhammad continued to overpower Edwards in the final two rounds as he found success with his aggression via takedowns. His face bloodied, Muhammad (24-3) dropped to his knees moments after he remained unbeaten in his 11th straight fight and had the championship belt wrapped around his waist. He became the first UFC fighter of Palestinian origin to clinch a title.
In the co-main event, Tom Aspinall demolished Curtis Blaydes to successfully defend his interim heavyweight title. The fight played out much like his matchup with Sergei Pavlovich in November, as Blaydes flashed his power in the initial exchange, only for Aspinall to reset and topple him with a short left hook. Capitalising on the upper hand, Aspinall unloaded a series of follow-up blows that brought about the first-round stoppage. Aspinall is now set to compete for the undisputed heavyweight title after White confirmed the winner will face the victor of the Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic fight, which is slated to happen later this year.
