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."
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