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Take a look at a chronological history of the UFC bantamweight belt.
(This story was updated to add new information.)
The bantamweight title changed hands in the UFC 306 main event when Sean O’Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) was outworked by challenger Merab Dvalishvili (18-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC).
Take a look at a chronological history of the UFC’s 135-pound title, which migrated over from the WEC in 2010 when the promotions merged.
Tim Welch shared some words with Sean O’Malley toward end of his fight with Merab Dvalishvili but meant something else, he said.
Coach [autotag]Tim Welch[/autotag] has received plenty of criticism for how he handled [autotag]Sean O’Malley[/autotag]’s corner at UFC 306.
O’Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) lost his bantamweight title by unanimous decision to Merab Dvalishvili (18-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC) in this past Saturday’s main event at Sphere in Las Vegas. Dvalishvili’s coach, UFC Hall of Famer Matt Serra, thinks Welch showed no sense of urgency with his fighter being down big in the final five minutes of the fight. Welch addressed the backlash and clarified what he meant when he was heard telling O’Malley “we are almost done with this” in the fifth round.
“It came out the wrong way. I meant to say ‘we’re almost done with this,’ like ‘you’re going to clip him at any time,'” Welch told ESPN. “But also, I’ve known Sean for 12 years. I know what’s going through his mind and keeping him confident. I always forget those cameras are rolling on my mic and stuff. I want to keep his head in it. It sounded way worse than it actually was. I just meant to say, ‘This fight is almost over. We’re almost done with this, you can clip him at any point.’ But it came out the wrong way and sounded stupid.”
O’Malley is set to undergo surgery Oct. 3 to repair a torn labrum in his left hip, which he suffered 10 weeks prior to his fight with Dvalishvili. Welch expects a motivated O’Malley in his return and doesn’t think they’re short of big opportunities.
“It’s just a perfect time to practice what we preach all the time,” Welch said. “I’ve been around fighting a long time. I know eventually you’re probably going to lose. If you keep fighting the best people on planet Earth in your weight class, eventually you’re going to lose.
“I just think every fight for Sean is going to be a big fight. The build-up is going to be big, he’s just such a showman, and I think it’ll be similar to, like every fight Nate Diaz is in is a big fight. Every fight Jorge Masvidal is in is a big fight. So, I think it’ll be similar for Sean, and I think right now it’s really going to light a fire under him.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 306.
Chael Sonnen thinks Valentina Shevchenko made a mistake by not acknowledging Manon Fiorot after UFC 306.
[autotag]Chael Sonnen[/autotag] thinks [autotag]Valentina Shevchenko[/autotag] made a mistake by not acknowledging [autotag]Manon Fiorot[/autotag] after UFC 306.
Shevchenko (24-4-1 MMA, 13-3-1 UFC) regained her flyweight title with a dominant decision win over Alexa Grasso (16-4-1 MMA, 8-4-1 UFC) in Saturday’s co-main event at Sphere in Las Vegas. Fiorot (12-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC) weighed in as a backup for the fight, but her services weren’t needed. Although Shevchenko dismissed a fourth fight with Grasso next, Sonnen would have liked to see her address Fiorot.
“Can I tell you what one of my least favorite parts (of UFC 306) was? It’s very simple,” Sonnen said on “Good Guy/Bad Guy” alongside Daniel Cormier. “There was an alternate that flew in and weighed in in case anything happened with the Grasso-Shevchenko fight, Fiorot. At a minimum, it would have been nice if Valentina mentioned her. I feel like it’s clear that Fiorot is next. She was almost that night. And after the fight, Valentina went in a different direction. She wanted to thank Hunter Campbell and Dana White as opposed to call out an opponent.
“You were a main event here at this very event one year ago against the same opponent for the same title then they have demoted you to a co-main event. At some point you’ve got to wake up. The crowd wasn’t thrilled with this match. If they were to do it again next year, it’s going to come lower and lower. I felt for Fiorot. To come over there, get licensed, go through all the medicals, go through the training camp, the weight cut, and there’s no opportunity, which means there’s not a very big check to split up with your team. At a minimum, you could have had a callout. On a human level, to a degree, it bothered me.”
Unbeaten in the octagon, Fiorot cemented herself as No. 1 contender after a main event win over Erin Blanchfield at UFC on ESPN 54 in March.
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 306.
Watching Diego Lopes dominate Brian Ortega gave Dan Ige a better gauge of where he stands in the UFC featherweight division.
Watching [autotag]Diego Lopes[/autotag] dominate [autotag]Brian Ortega[/autotag] gave [autotag]Dan Ige[/autotag] a better gauge of where he stands in the UFC featherweight division.
Lopes (26-6 MMA, 5-1 UFC) battered former title challenger Ortega this past Saturday at UFC 306 to emerge as a title contender. Prior to that, Lopes was tested in a unanimous decision win over Ige, who stepped in on just hours’ notice at UFC 303 in June.
“I thought he made it look easy,” Ige told Middle Easy on Lopes’ win over Ortega. “Nothing’s easy, but the way he went out there, he hurt Brian early. Anyone could say, ‘Yeah, he could’ve finished him,’ but he took a risk. I think he wanted to make a point. I think he wanted to try to submit him just to prove a point.
“But that cost him and then he had to go through a three-round fight. But, for the most part, he dominated. He looked really good in every aspect of the standup and the grappling, and, yeah, he’s a hard hitter, man. I felt his power when I was in there with him.”
Ige (18-8 MMA, 10-7 UFC) will look to rebound when he meets undefeated rising contender Lerone Murphy (14-0-1 MMA, 6-0-1 UFC) Oct. 26 at UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi. Although he’s coming off a loss to Lopes, he takes solace in knowing he can compete well with the top contenders in the division.
“But if anything, it just gives me more confidence,” Ige said of Lopes. “He’s No. 3 now and to be able to fight a guy like that on short notice, literally three hours’ notice and not actually game plan for someone like that and still have moments in the fight, it just gives me confidence in anything else.”
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Cory Sandhagen thought Deiveson Figueiredo “was a little bit more about that life” and is surprised he declined to fight him.
According to [autotag]Cory Sandhagen[/autotag], a top UFC bantamweight contender declined to fight him.
Sandhagen, who’s coming off a main event loss to Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC on ABC 7 in August, said the UFC tried to match him up with [autotag]Deiveson Figueiredo[/autotag] (24-3-1 MMA, 13-3-1 UFC) at the end of the year.
“Figgy turned down the fight against me in September, which is just kind of whack because I thought that Figgy was a little bit more about that life than that,” Sandhagen said on his YouTube channel. “I’m kind of actually hurt that Figgy doesn’t want to fight me in December, but maybe he wants to take the easier fights. I don’t know what that dude’s plan is.”
Sandhagen (17-5 MMA, 10-4 UFC) initially campaigned to fight Sean O’Malley (18-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) after he lost his bantamweight title to Merab Dvalishvili (18-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC) by unanimous decision in this past Saturday’s UFC 306 main event at Sphere in Las Vegas.
But upon hearing that O’Malley is set to undergo surgery Oct. 3 for a torn labrum in his hip, he’s a little disappointed.
“It’s really a bummer, man, because I was really hoping to get that fight one, and then two, the fans get really excited about fights like that, and that’s just a bummer that they don’t get to have that fight right now at least,” Sandhagen told Fanatics View. “But even in the future, you never really know what’s going to happen. It kind of reminds me of three or four years ago when people were really trying to hype up a me and Dominick Cruz fight.
“Cruz just never ended up taking the fight. He had other opportunities, and he took those ones. That’s just a bummer. I hope that’s not the case with this one and that the fans eventually get to watch me and O’Malley fight. … I’m not going to wait until the summer for O’Malley. No way. I like fighting. I was just out for an entire year. I really wanted to get something in December, but I think it’s realistically going to be a bit longer than that.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 306.
Sean O’Malley struggled against Merab Dvalishvili, and “Tim Welch had no answers for his fighter,” according to Matt Serra.
UFC Hall of Famer [autotag]Matt Serra[/autotag] doesn’t think [autotag]Sean O’Malley[/autotag]’s corner showed a sense of urgency at UFC 306.
O’Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) was outgrappled in a unanimous decision loss to Merab Dvalishvili (18-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC) in last Saturday’s title-fight headliner at Sphere in Las Vegas. Heading into Round 5, O’Malley was down four rounds on one of the judges’ scorecards and 3-1 on the other two. Serra, who is one of Dvalishvili’s coaches, criticized Welch for not lighting a fire under O’Malley when he was clearly losing the fight.
“This fight exposed him as a coach because when your guy is winning and knocking people out, sure, you look like a f*cking hero,” Serra said on “UFC Unfiltered.” “When your fighter is obviously losing the fight and he starts losing rounds, Tim Welch was, like, not wanting to hurt his feelings.
“‘OK, good round.’ No, you’re losing f*cking three rounds! You’ve got to get in his ass. You’ve got to say – he was afraid that he did not know how to handle his guy on that many rounds. And I thought his f*cking cornerwork was sh*t. So, he exposed himself. You (Dvalishvili) took care of business, and Tim Welch had no answers for his fighter.”
O’Malley later revealed that he tore the labrum in his left hip 10 weeks prior to his fight with Dvalishvili. He will undergo surgery on Oct. 3.
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 306.
Ali Abdelaziz still considers Sean O’Malley the biggest fight in the UFC bantamweight division.
Ali Abdelaziz thinks [autotag]Sean O’Malley[/autotag] is still the biggest fight in the bantamweight division.
O’Malley (18-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) lost his bantamweight title to Merab Dvalishvili by unanimous decision in Saturday’s UFC 306 main event. It was later revealed that he tore his labrum 10 weeks out from the fight and is set to undergo surgery on Oct. 3.
Despite Dvalishvili’s reluctance, Abdelaziz expects his fighter [autotag]Umar Nurmagomedov[/autotag] (18-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) to get the next title shot. If victorious, Abdelaziz wants to see Nurmagomedov fight O’Malley in his first title defense, even though O’Malley would be coming off a lopsided title loss.
“I would like Sean O’Malley to do this: Take as much time as he wants off, and I believe Umar will beat Merab, and after that, Umar will give him a title shot coming off a loss,” Abdelaziz told ESPN. “I think Sean O’Malley is one of the biggest stars in the sport. This is a business about making money, and I think Sean O’Malley deserves a title shot coming off a loss.
“Do you know why? Because Sean O’Malley makes everyone in the division money. Not Merab. It’s not Umar yet. Umar will be, though, because Umar has two billion people behind his back. He will be the second Khabib (Nurmagomedov). He doesn’t talk much. He needs to trash talk a little bit more like Khabib did, but Umar is special.”
Abdelaziz clarified that Nurmagomedov will fight whomever the UFC offers but argued that a fight with O’Malley would draw the biggest audience in the division.
“Umar will fight anybody, can be Petr Yan or Figueiredo, but this is about making money. And Sean O’Malley – nobody gave a sh*t about the bantamweight division before,” Abdelaziz added. “You have to give him credit. I don’t know Sean O’Malley, we’re not friends, I don’t have pink hair, but the guy brought a lot of hype for the division.
“How you don’t give this guy a title shot coming from a loss? Who cares. They (UFC) gave Frankie Edgar a title shot coming off a loss, they gave Izzy (Adesanya) a title shot coming off a loss. … This is about hype, about business, about making money. Listen, Figueiredo and Merab, nobody gives a sh*t. Petr Yan and Merab, nobody cares. Umar and Merab, people care. Umar and Sean O’Malley, people care.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 306.
Demetrious Johnson sees UFC champion Merab Dvalishvili having a major advantage over Umar Nurmagomedov.
[autotag]Demetrious Johnson[/autotag] sees UFC bantamweight champion [autotag]Merab Dvalishvili[/autotag] having a major advantage over [autotag]Umar Nurmagomedov[/autotag].
Dvalishvili (18-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC) defeated Sean O’Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) in a dominant decision win to claim the bantamweight title in Saturday’s UFC 306 main event at Sphere in Las Vegas.
Umar Nurmagomedov (18-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) is waiting in the wings for his title shot, but Dvalishvili is not sold on him being No. 1 contender. However, if Dvalishvili and Nurmagomedov do end up fighting, Johnson thinks Dvalishvili’s gas tank will give him an edge.
“This is going to be interesting because I feel his conditioning is going to be the X-factor because we know he’s not going to stop,” Johnson said on his YouTube channel. “He’s going to be a busy bee around the octagon to where this gentleman (Nurmagomedov) has the high kicks, he’s very long, he’s very big, and he also has the wrestling.
“But he does not have the work ethic like this man (Dvalishvili). Not saying he doesn’t have the work ethic, he doesn’t have just that, ‘I’m coming to smash you, I’m coming to smother you,’ like Khabib. This man (Dvalishvili) has that bear gene where he just comes and gets you, where he’s (Nurmagomedov) more strategic.”
Nurmagomedov competed in his first main event at UFC on ABC 7 in August, when he outlasted Cory Sandhagen in what was dubbed as a title eliminator.
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While UFC 306 was a big hit for Dana White, let’s just say Brendan Schaub wasn’t a big fan.
Let’s just say [autotag]Brendan Schaub[/autotag] wasn’t a big fan of UFC 306.
The former UFC heavyweight contender turned podcaster and comedian heavily criticized the UFC’s decision to put on a pay-per-view event at the famous Sphere in Las Vegas. The card from this past Saturday was headlined by two championship fights in Merab Dvalishvili vs. Sean O’Malley and Valentina Shevchenko vs. Alexa Grasso 3.
There were several things Schaub didn’t like about the Sphere event, starting with the emphasis of promotion on the venue and not the fighters competing at the event.
“Clearly the belle of the ball was the arena,” Schaub said on his YouTube channel. “The Sphere was the focus and the belle of the ball. As a former fighter, for the current fighters, that’s not good. No other sports organization in the f*cking world is going to make the arena the focus. It should be on the talent. So that was already kind of triggering to me, but I didn’t say much. I was just like, ‘We’re going down a weird road.'”
Schaub didn’t attend UFC 306 and saw the event on pay-per-view like most fans. He thought the graphics and production looked cool, which the promotion spent over $20 million, but at the end of the day, he tunes in to watch good fights – something he doesn’t think the event delivered.
“What Dana White wanted to achieve, they crushed it,” Schaub said. “From the whole Sphere thing, first time ever pulling this off, they crushed it. The presentation was great. It’s not even all that. That’s not my issue. My issue is the product I paid to watch was not great because it wasn’t a pay-per-view worthy card. Because the belle of the ball is the Sphere, what you’re paying for, unless you’re in person, it ain’t that great. It just wasn’t. And the main and co-main event, boy, did the UFC gamble, and they lost.”
The best way Schaub could describe his experience watching UFC 306, was to eating at Rainforest Cafe – a rainforest-themed chain restaurant decorated with jungle flora and animatronic animals.
“You know what the Sphere is? It’s Rainforest Cafe,” Schaub said. “It looks f*cking great, but the product is sh*t. As a kid, I loved Rainforest Cafe. It looks f*cking sick. It’s got animals and sounds and mist, and you’re like, ‘I’m in a jungle.’ But then you get your f*cking macaroni, and it’s horrendous, and you’re waiting around forever.
“The UFC doing events at the Sphere is like, I hate to tell you guys, but spoiler: Rainforest Cafe is out of business. UFC doing events like this is no different than Rainforest Cafe. What it comes down to is you’re there for a good meal, not the atmosphere.”
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It turns out “Chito” Vera didn’t actually question Merab Dvalishvili’s decision win over Sean O’Malley at UFC 306.
[autotag]Marlon Vera[/autotag] definitely had one of the most bizarre and controversial social media posts over the weekend.
Vera, a former UFC bantamweight title challenger, had a unique take on Saturday’s UFC 306 main event in which [autotag]Merab Dvalishvili[/autotag] took the 135-pound title in dominant fashion from [autotag]Sean O’Malley[/autotag]. Vera wrote on X, ‘I call it the other way, but congrats Merab well fought,’ which triggered many responses given the nature of the fight.
Vera said his comments were misinterpreted, as he meant something completely different.
“I tweeted after the fight, ‘I call it the other way, but congrats Merab,’ and when I said ‘call it the other way,’ I didn’t refer to the decision,” Vera said on his YouTube channel. “That was a clear-cut Merab won five founds. I was meaning that before the fight, O’Malley was going to win the fight because of his size and punch power and how he defends the takedowns against Aljo – who on paper is probably a better wrestler than Merab.
“I got called that I got CTE and some sh*t, because they assumed I said I saw the decision for O’Malley, which that’s impossible.”
In terms of the fight, Vera was impressed with what he saw from Dvalisvili. He also thought O’Malley didn’t have the right approach to the fight, which contributed to the lopsided showing.
“That was a great fight,” Vera said. “I really thought if Sean could hit Merab early in the fight, things could change because he’s been dropped by Cejudo and Marlon Moraes, but he just couldn’t land. Merab had that kind of jerky move, and it’s hard to hit him. In a way, you can’t snipe this guy. You have to fight him. I would say it’s compared to the fight with Chad Mendes and Conor. Every time Conor would get up, he would crowd Chad right away and be on his face right away. Every time Sean would get up, there was little separation. That probably messed his rhythm, and we know Merab can just take you down over and over and over.
“In my opinion, you have to sit down and fight him. He’s going to take you down regardless, might as well just go crazy on him. But overall, great fight. Congratulations to the new champion.”
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