Manic Merab Grabs UFC Bantamweight Champion from Sean O’Malley

There were a lot of unorthodox things about UFC 306. The UFC Noche event, which was put together to honor Mexican Independence Day, was built around impressive visuals, costume design for ring girls, and putting on a one-of-a-kind event. Merab Dvalishvili showed why he will likely be a unique champion with his five-round decision win over Sean O’Malley in a bantamweight title fight at the Sphere.

Within seconds of the fight starting, MMAfighting latest news reflected that this wouldn’t be a conventional fight. Dvalishvili immediately started pointing to O’Malley’s corner, where he was complaining about O’Malley’s coach, Tim Welch, shouting instructions at him.

Herb Dean stopped the fight to tell Dvalishvili to let him handle things. When the fight resumed, Dvalishvili went back to systematically picking apart O’Malley. Dvalishvili effectively neutralized O’Malley’s striking with his strong wrestling.

Dvalishvili was so comfortable with his grappling that he kissed O’Malley on the back at the end of Round 2, which got Dean to scold him. Dvalishvili never slowed down, picking up his 11th consecutive win via a unanimous decision. While Dvalishvili’s win was impressive, and the event was praised for its presentation, having two grappling-heavy fights in the main and co-main event left some fans grumbling.

Shevchenko Closes Book on Rivalry

Valentina Shevchenko looked more like an Olympic wrestler than a high-power striker in her trilogy fight with Alexa Grasso. Shevchenko mostly learned from her mistakes during the first two fights. Instead of trading in boxing exchanges with Grasso during a flyweight championship, Shevchenko wrestled.

Grasso needed answers for a simple double leg. She never found them. Shevchenko landed eight takedowns and recaptured her title via a unanimous decision. While Grasso nearly wrapped up a guillotine submission in the fourth round, Shevchenko could roll out of it and get back in top position.

The fighters are now 1-1-1 against each other, but Grasso will be unlikely to get an immediate rematch. Manon Fiorot, who weighed in as the backup for this fight, would likely get the next opportunity.

Lopes Finally Beats Ortega

Diego Lopes needs to take away a valuable lesson from his unanimous decision win over Brian Ortega. During the first round, Lopes’ power sent Ortega down to the canvas. But instead of letting Ortega back up, Lopez wasted a lot of energy trying to finish Ortega with ground-and-pound.

If Lopes had let Ortega back up, he may have been able to secure a first-round stoppage. Instead, Lopes had to battle hard with the former title challenger to the end of the third round. While Lopes collected his fifth straight win in comfortable fashion, he had to deal with a few scares from Ortega once the veteran fighter survived the early onslaught.

Ortega and Lopes were supposed to fight earlier this year, but Ortega pulled out hours before the fight due to illness. 

Ribovics, Zellhuber Put on a Wild Third Round

Mexican fighter Daniel Zellhuber looked like he was going to escape with a narrow decision when he dropped Esteban Ribovics early in the third round with an elbow. But what followed for the rest of the fight earned both men, deservedly, a bonus for the fight of the night.

Ribovics connected on a number of power shots to Zellhuber, who was out on his feet. While Zellhuber appeared too stunned to fire back at Ribovics, he survived toward the end of the round thanks to strong movement on his feet while trapped against the cage.

Despite Ribovics dominating the third round, it was a sweaty decision for him on the scorecards. One judge scored the fight for Zellhuber, while the other two decided on Ribovics.

Osbourne Misses His Chance

Ode’ Osbourne had a submission locked in twice on Ronaldo Rodriguez during the first round of their flyweight fight. But Osbourne’s run of luck continued to trend in the wrong direction. When Osbourne couldn’t complete the submission attempt, he ended up being overwhelmed by Rodriguez.

Rodriguez ended up outstriking Osbourne over the final two rounds to grab the victory. Osbourne has lost three fights in a row at flyweight and will have to figure out a better path forward.

Dumont Dominates Aldana

Norma Dumont hadn’t been tested much against top competition. Mostly known as a grappler during the early stages of her career, Dumont has put a lot more work into being able to punch with power. Former bantamweight title challenger Irene Aldana was on the wrong side of that at UFC Noche.

Dumont took advantage of Aldana’s willingness to absorb strikes by punishing her with powerful combinations. Because of how Aldana fought, Dumont set a new personal best with 159 significant strikes, which landed over three rounds. Dumont was successful in connecting with 51 percent of her strikes.

By the third round, Aldana had blood pouring from a nasty gash that was cut open in her face. Despite her corner’s best attempts to stop the bleeding, they could only slow what was pouring down.

Dumont has now won five straight fights and may be on a trajectory to fight for a title.

Bahamondes Turns the Table on Torres

Manuel Torres had a reputation for finishing fights in the first round. When Torres attempted to continue that tradition against Ignacio Bahamondes, bad things happened. Torres attempted to strike from a distance when Bahamondes was able to catch him clean on the chin.

When Torres hit the ground, Bahamondes slowly approached Torres and fired off heavy ground and pound. Bahamondes secured a first-round knockout. It was the only knockout of the night.

Here’s a look at the results for the rest of the fights on the card:

• Women’s strawweight, Ketlen Souza win by technical submission (rear-naked choke) over Yasmin Jauregui, Round 1 3:02
• Flyweight, Joshua Van win by decision over Edgar Chairez, 29-28 (x3)
• Bantamweight, Raul Rosas Jr. win by decision over Aori Qilieng, 29-28 (x3)

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By Dean McHugh.