Merab Dvalishvili Vs. O’Malley 2 Announced For UFC 316

April 2, 2025

4 weeks

Merab Dvalishvili Vs. O'Malley 2 Announced For UFC 316

Merab Dvalishvili will face Sean O’Malley in their rematch on June 7 from UFC 316.

The card takes place from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, as Merab hopes to repeat the result from the first fight. Dvalishvili secured a dominant unanimous decision win at UFC 306. It was a historic occasion since it was the first combat sports event from The Sphere. The card set a UFC live gate record of $22 million. The win made Merab the UFC Bantamweight Champion, giving O’Malley the second loss of his career. However, O’Malley alleged that he was impacted by an injury entering into the bout.

“Overall, I had a good camp, way better than the Aljo camp. The rib injury was a lot harder to train with than the torn labrum. The labrum is just pain.As far as how the torn labrum impacted his fight with Dvalishvili, O’Malley said his grappling ability was hindered. “I was not able to wrestle as much as I would’ve liked. I know I can wrestle better than that. I’ve been training with really good guys for a long time and I know I can do better,” O’Malley said

Dvalishvili vs. O’Malley Card

He subsequently underwent hip surgery, while Merab went on to bigger and better things. Dvalishvili defeated Umar Nurmagomedov in the first defense of his belt via a unanimous decision. It was the first time that Umar suffered a loss in the UFC.

In the co-main event, UFC Bantamweight Champion Julianna Pena will fight Kayla Harrison. It is the first time that Pena will defend her belt. She defeated Raquel Pennington in her previous fight at UFC 307 to win the title. Meanwhile, Harrison has risen quickly through the UFC ranks. She left the PFL last year to sign with the UFC. Harrison made her debut at UFC 300, beating Holly Holm on her debut. She enters this fight with a win against Ketlen Vieira, knowing a world title is up for grabs.

“UFC 316 is at the Prudential Center in New Jersey on June 7th, and the main event is Merab Dvalishvili versus “Sugar” Sean O’Malley. Merab is on a 12-fight win streak. He has the bantamweight record for win streaks, all-time most takedowns landed, most control time. Merab is on a roll. Sean’s coming back. Co-main event: women’s bantamweight champion Julianna Peña is taking on Kayla Harrison. Kayla has won titles in other organizations, and now she’s getting the opportunity to try to win a belt here in the UFC. Peña is always tough and gritty, and that should be a fun fight. So, that’s it, that’s all I got. I’ll see you this weekend,” Dana White