LAS VEGAS -- Merab Dvalishvili positioned an emphatic cease to "The Suga Show" with a smothering unanimous choice win over Sean O'Malley to claim the UFC bantamweight identify Saturday night inside the predominant occasion of Noche UFC at Sphere.

Dvalishvili used regular motion, six takedowns and simply over 10 minutes of manipulate time to befuddle and prevent O'Malley from uncorking certainly one of his fight-ending punches. It turned into a dominant performance that lacked the fireworks enthusiasts anticipated after witnessing a surprisingly produced spectacle of an occasion.

"I realize he became good, but I made him appearance ordinary," stated Dvalishvili (18-four MMA, eleven-2 UFC). "I am the best bantamweight inside the UFC."

O'Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) was making the second one protection of his a hundred thirty five-pound identify however struggled to locate any momentum in the course of the combat out of doors of some front kicks to the body in the closing mins. Despite scores of forty nine-46, 48-forty seven and forty eight-47, Dvalishvili became on top of things for almost each minute.

Known for his relentless takedowns and limitless energy, Dvalishvili went to work almost immediately and secured his first takedown 3 mins into the fight and tested O'Malley's resilience. To his credit score, O'Malley labored his manner back to his toes but turned into dragged back down to the mat quickly after and observed himself trapped in a guillotine.

It was a function O'Malley, 29, hadn't been in at some stage in his UFC tenure. The rangy fighter from Montana become used to dictating fights and has used his devastating knockout strength and pinpoint accuracy to snipe the competition. But Dvalishvili was a continuously transferring goal O'Malley could not pick up on.

A lovely duck-below takedown kicked off the second round for Dvalishvili and he spent tons of the spherical working over the champion with floor and pound. In a surprising second, Dvalishvili inexplicably launched a guillotine choke and walked away with a few seconds left within the spherical. O'Malley pounced at the possibility to fire some punches, however that became all the possibility he could have.

It changed into rinse and repeat in Rounds 3 and 4, with O'Malley starting to pick up on the timing but no longer enough to stop the active Georgian from collecting some extra takedowns.

The simplest real drama got here in the final moments while an O'Malley front kick to the middle appeared to harm Dvalishvili. With a largely pro-O'Malley crowd urging him on, the colourful combatant sought a combat-finishing sequence, but it turned into too little, too past due.

O'Malley failed to seem at the postfight news convention but addressed his defeat in a short publish on his X account, writing, "Over promised, under added. Sorry. Love you guys."

After starting his profession within the UFC with consecutive losses, Dvalishvili, 33, has torn via the opposition with 11 consecutive wins and no longer a single decide seeing a fight in prefer of his opponent. Not handiest changed into the victory big for Dvalishvili, but it become simply as large for his teammate, former champion Aljamain Sterling, who was knocked out by O'Malley in 2023.

The loss ended O'Malley's seven-fight unbeaten streak and put a keep on his adventure to attain the celeb popularity of Conor McGregor. Dvalishvili's first protection of his name will come towards the UFC's undefeated No. 2 ranked bantamweight Umar Nurmagomedov.

Dvalishvili's victory capped an event that White had promised would be "the best live combat sports show every body has ever seen," and turned into absolutely the largest production in UFC history. Taking region at Sphere, a $2.Three billion venue with a big a hundred and sixty,000-square-foot interior show plane, the price range for Saturday's occasion surpassed $20 million, in keeping with White.

Afterward, White stated the advertising "confirmed every person tonight what is feasible on the Sphere" and anticipated the event would garner a handful of Emmy Awards.

"You can do extra than concert events right here," he said. "You simply have to do it right."

White brought: "In 30 years, the handiest aspect that modified in boxing became HD. I constantly want to push the envelope and try and make matters better. When new era comes out, I try to enhance the bar as it need to be raised."

Asked about the belief that Saturday's fights did not stay up to the spectacle or production cost of the event, White stated, "You can put up $20 million well worth of production, however you can not manipulate the fights. They are what they're. I can not allow that drive me crazy."

Valentina Shevchenko knocked out Alexa Grasso to regain the UFC title

LAS VEGAS -- The first trilogy in UFC ladies's history came to its conclusion on Saturday, and it changed into Valentina Shevchenko who enjoyed the final snicker.

Shevchenko (24-four-1) reclaimed her flyweight identify by defeating Alexa Grasso (16-four-1) thru unanimous choice at UFC 306 interior Sphere. It become the third consecutive identify fight between Shevchenko and Grasso, relationship again to March 2023. Grasso took the belt from Shevchenko inside the first assembly in a big upset with the aid of selection. The 2nd bout ended in a majority draw 12 months in the past.

The final act proved to be noticeably one-sided. Shevchenko, 35, executed a totally grappling-heavy sport plan, as she took Grasso down in every of the five rounds en direction to unanimous 50-forty five rankings.

Credit: Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images


According to UFC Stats, Grasso managed to land simplest 18 great strikes. Shevchenko had greater than 16 minutes of manipulate time on the floor inside the 25-minute combat.

"It's a dream come authentic fighting in the Sphere," Shevchenko said. "Everything approximately this combat became more pleasant [than the last one]. The game plan become to go in there and combat to the end."

It became a night of vindication for Shevchenko, who adamantly stated she felt she received the rematch in September 2023. Shevchenko could have gained that bout had one choose now not scored the very last spherical a 10-8 for Grasso, which is what led to the bulk draw end result. Although Grasso surely won the fifth spherical, many questioned whether it become dominant sufficient to benefit a 10-8 score.

Shevchenko left no doubt on Saturday, essentially neutralizing Grasso's offense. She expertly picked at her from lengthy variety on the toes, earlier than capturing in on nicely-timed takedowns. Grasso surrendered eight of 12 takedown attempts and struggled to paintings lower back to her feet. She did threaten Shevchenko with a handful of submissions off her again, which includes a good guillotine in the fourth spherical, but could not finish any off.

The crowd booed the shortage of motion inside the co-main event at instances, however that did not anything to dampen Shevchenko's spirits. She regarded emotional because the final bell sounded. She had held the one hundred twenty five-pound identify for nearly 4 years whilst Grasso took it from her in 2022.

Originally born in Kyrgyzstan, Shevchenko is considered one of the finest opponents of all time. She had never long gone winless in lower back-to-back appearances in MMA till the bulk draw to Grasso. She will possibly face French No. 1 contender Manon Fiorot in her subsequent name protection.