-
Andreas Hale, ESPN
LAS VEGAS — Merab Dvalishvili put an emphatic end to “The Suga Show” with a smothering unanimous decision win over Sean O’Malley to claim the UFC bantamweight title Saturday night in the main event of Noche UFC at Sphere.
Dvalishvili used constant movement, six takedowns and just over 10 minutes of control time to befuddle and prevent O’Malley from uncorking one of his fight-ending punches. It was a dominant performance that lacked the fireworks fans expected after witnessing a highly produced spectacle of an event.
“I know he was good, but I made him look normal,” said Dvalishvili (18-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC). “I am the best bantamweight in the UFC.”
O’Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) was making the second defense of his 135-pound title but struggled to find any momentum throughout the fight outside of a few front kicks to the body in the closing minutes. Despite scores of 49-46, 48-47 and 48-47, Dvalishvili was in control for nearly every minute.
Known for his relentless takedowns and unlimited energy, Dvalishvili went to work almost immediately and secured his first takedown three minutes into the fight and tested O’Malley’s resilience. To his credit, O’Malley worked his way back to his feet but was dragged back down to the mat shortly after and found himself trapped in a guillotine.
It was a position O’Malley, 29, hadn’t been in during his UFC tenure. The rangy fighter from Montana was used to dictating fights and has used his devastating knockout power and pinpoint accuracy to snipe the opposition. But Dvalishvili was a constantly moving target O’Malley couldn’t pick up on.
A beautiful duck-under takedown kicked off the second round for Dvalishvili and he spent much of the round working over the champion with ground and pound. In a surprising moment, Dvalishvili inexplicably released a guillotine choke and walked away with a few seconds left in the round. O’Malley pounced on the opportunity to fire a few punches, but that was all the opportunity he would have.
It was rinse and repeat in Rounds 3 and 4, with O’Malley starting to pick up on the timing but not enough to stop the energetic Georgian from collecting a few more takedowns.
The only real drama came in the final moments when an O’Malley front kick to the midsection appeared to hurt Dvalishvili. With a largely pro-O’Malley crowd urging him on, the colorful combatant sought a fight-ending sequence, but it was too little, too late.
O’Malley didn’t appear at the postfight news conference but addressed his defeat in a short post on his X account, writing, “Over promised, under delivered. Sorry. Love you guys.”
After starting his career in the UFC with consecutive losses, Dvalishvili, 33, has torn through the opposition with 11 consecutive wins and not a single judge seeing a fight in favor of his opponent. Not only was the victory significant for Dvalishvili, but it was just as big 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 hold on his journey to reach the superstar status of Conor McGregor. Dvalishvili’s first defense of his title will come against the UFC’s undefeated No. 2 ranked bantamweight Umar Nurmagomedov.
Dvalishvili’s victory capped an event that White had promised would be “the greatest live combat sports show anybody has ever seen,” and was undoubtedly the biggest production in UFC history. Taking place at Sphere, a $2.3 billion venue with a massive 160,000-square-foot interior display plane, the budget for Saturday’s event exceeded $20 million, according to White.
Afterward, White said the promotion “showed everybody tonight what’s possible at the Sphere” and predicted the event would garner a handful of Emmy Awards.
“You can do more than concerts here,” he said. “You just have to do it right.”
White added: “In 30 years, the only thing that changed in boxing was HD. I always like to push the envelope and try to make things better. When new technology comes out, I try to raise the bar because it should be raised.”
Asked about the notion that Saturday’s fights didn’t live up to the spectacle or production value of the event, White said, “You can put up $20 million worth of production, but you can’t control the fights. They are what they are. I cannot let that drive me crazy.”