UFC 316: Merab dvalishvili will stop Shaun O’Malley and keep title | Mixed Martial Arts News
With President Donald Trump in attendance, Dvalishvili controls challenger O’Malley in his third round victory in New Jersey.
Merab Dvalishvili easily beat Sean O’Malley in the main event of UFC 316 in Newark, New Jersey, securing a third round modified choke in the rematch to retain the bantamweight championship.
As President Donald Trump watches from the cageside on Saturday night, Dvalishvili (20-4 MMA) has highlighted his wrestling base to tire of the previous champions and make arguing as one of the best bantamweights of all time.
Dvalishvili, who won the third round in 13 consecutive victories at 4:42, said he welcomed the next title defense against Cory Sandhagen (18-5 MMA), the winner of four of his final five fights.
“You’re a man, let’s go,” Dvalishvili said.
O’Malley (18-3 MMA) fell to Dvalishvili by unanimous decision last September, waking his title. O’Malley confirmed that the loss was a minor setback and reassured a steady return.
“Thank you 100% for coming out,” O’Malley said.
The women’s bantamweight title changed hands in the co-main event as Kayla Harrison submitted her second Kimura to Julianna Pena and the Julianna Pena at the second Kimura also known as Double Wrist Rock or Riverski Rock.
Harrison and Pena then hugged the octagon, showing each other the maximum class after the 34-year-old took control of every aspect of the fight.
Harrison said in a postwar interview that she “want to stop” her weight cuts on Thursday night, as she was so exhausted, but that would have been a mistake in her eyes, given that most fighters in the MMA hadn’t won the UFC title.
Harrison (19-1 MMA) called on former Pena (13-6 MMA) rival Amanda Nunez. Nunes (23-5 MMA) is a former two-division champion who retired in 2023. Over time, she teased her comeback. That seems inevitable as Harrison and Nunes posed for a showdown and the crowd at the Prudential Center shines through, so we talked about the match later this year.
Kevin Holland set out his UFC 316 main card in style and secured D’Arce Choke on Vicente Luque at 1:03 in the second round.
The Netherlands (28-13 MMA) has now won three of his final five, highlighting the need to remain a prominent welterweight contender. Luk (23-11-1-1 MMA), who lives in New Jersey via Brazil, lost two of his last three.
Middleweight Joe Piffer did a good job with the return of the UFC, beating TUF alumnus Kelvin Gastherm on unanimous decisions 29-28, 29-27 and 30-27.
Pyfer (14-3 MMA) scored his last two outings, while Gastelum (19-10 MMA) is in the middle of a slump.
