Sean
O’Malley spent most of this year assuring us that a rematch
with Merab
Dvalishvili would go differently. It did, but not in the way he
probably would have liked.
In the main event of of
UFC 316 on Saturday in Newark, New Jersey, “The Machine”
defended his bantamweight title against the man from whom he took
it last fall, O’Malley. Much of the promotional lead-up to the
fight consisted of O’Malley discussing the changes he had made in
his life and how those would lead to a different result in the
cage, but once the two men went to work, he looked somewhat
tentative. For most of the first half of Round 1, O’Malley gave
ground, backing up and circling out in the face of Dvalishvili’s
trademark frantic pace and pressure. The champ, aided by an
O’Malley stumble at the base of the fence, secured his first
takedown midway through the round. O’Malley escaped, but
Dvalishvili was relentless in pursuit and returned him to the
canvas, more emphatically this time, and landed a few solid strikes
from guard. The challenger was quicker to stand his ground in Round
2, but still hesitant to pull the trigger, and the best strikes in
the early going were a couple of fast punch combos from
Dvalishvili. O’Malley scored a small but significant victory midway
through the round when Dvalishvili backed him into the fence with a
flurry of hooks but was unable to land the takedown. The challenger
followed it up with a hard right hand a few moments later, and the
champ answered with a hard three-piece upstairs. The round ended
with both fighters having encroached on their foe’s territory:
Dvalishvili was having notable success on the feet, while O’Malley
had not even come close to being taken down despite several earnest
attempts by the champ.
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The floor would not continue to be lava in Round 3. Dvalishvili
grounded O’Malley quickly and went to work from the challenger’s
closed guard. O’Malley did a credible job defending himself from
the champ’s hyperactive ground-and-pound, but considering he may
have been down two rounds to none at that point, simply weathering
the storm would not be enough. When Dvalishvili advanced to half
guard, O’Malley took the chance to return to his feet, but was
promptly returned to the canvas. The challenger stood once again,
and the rinse-and-repeat was on, with the challenger looking more
deflated each time he was dumped back onto the floor. After one
final mat return, O’Malley stood up once again and this time
Dvalishvili snared him in a front headlock. A possible anaconda
choke turned to a north-south choke, and as Dvalishvili bore down
on the neck, O’Malley was forced to tap out. Referee Jason Herzog
moved in to save “Suga” at 4:42 of Round 3. The win, Dvalishvili’s
13th in a row, brought his record to 20-4 overall (13-2 UFC);
O’Malley fell to 18-3 with one no contest (10-2, 1 NC UFC) and now
faces an uncertain road back to the title picture after consecutive
losses to the champ.
Harrison Snatches Pena’s Arm, Belt
In the co-main event, Kayla
Harrison picked up the hardware many suspected was hers for the
taking since the moment she signed with the UFC last year. Facing a
tough, wily veteran opponent in defending bantamweight champ
Julianna
Pena, Harrison entered as the biggest favorite of any
undisputed title challenger this decade. For her part, Pena, who
had spent a decade facing the division’s best, showed no fear of
the former Olympic and
Professional Fighters League champ. Once the two went to work,
Harrison’s advantages in size and strength were starkly obvious,
but Pena nonetheless made the first round a tense, competitive
affair, as she refused to make anything easy for the challenger.
Harrison took Pena down into side control, but Pena avoided taking
much damage, slowed things down and regained guard. A 10-9 round in
the making became 10-8 when Pena was docked a point for a pair of
illegal upkicks, but any observers watching or hoping for an upset
could see a path to the champ weathering the early storm, then
taking over late. Harrison had no intention of letting the fight reach that point.
She secured another takedown around the midpoint of Round 2 and
went to work once again, this time advancing to half guard and
working for an arm-triangle choke. The champ defended well, and
looked to be in the clear as the final 30 seconds of the round
wound down, but Harrison had another trick left in the bag.
Right before the 10-second clapper, she grabbed a kimura on Pena’s
left arm and wrenched, eliciting the tap at 4:55,
spurring referee Vitor Ribeiro into action.
The emphatic finish inaugurated a new era at women’s bantamweight,
one that is likely to get weird almost immediately. Amanda
Nunes, the former two-division champ, onetime American Top Team
stablemate of Harrison, and consensus GOAT of the women’s
divisions, entered the Octagon and announced her intention to
return to fight Harrison. If that is a one-off comeback, it may
leave at least one UFC division in chaos, but those are problems
for another day. For now, there is a new woman atop the
bantamweight mountain—and she looked utterly dominant. Harrison is
now 19-1 overall, 3-0 in the Octagon, while Pena fell to 12-6 (8-4
UFC) in defeat.
Pyfer Passes Gastelum
Finally colliding after their bout was postponed from UFC Mexico
City last year, Joe Pyfer
turned aside veteran Kelvin
Gastelum in a middleweight tilt that looked destined for a
quick and violent end, only to turn surprisingly competitive late.
“Bodybagz” did his best to live up to his nickname, as he met
Gastelum in the center of the Octagon and promptly began blowing
him up with crushing right hands. Pyfer floored Gastelum cleanly
twice in the first round and while the Arizonan’s legendarily stout
chin and powers of recovery allowed him to hear the final horn,
there was little reason to think things would change in subsequent
rounds. However, Pyfer had a harder time in Round 2. Abandoning the
combination punching that had worked so well for him, he began
stalking the shorter man, trying to measure him for a single,
fight-ending shot. Not only did that shot not come, but it opened
things up for Gastelum to land some punches of his own. The result
was a round that, while still clearly a Pyfer round, was much
closer and left the sneaking idea that the veteran might find his
way back into the fight. Pyfer came out for Round 3 with a renewed
commitment to punches in bunches, and the result was that he took
over early. The always-game Gastelum was never completely out of
it, and appeared to be winning the round by the midpoint, but the
final two minutes saw the pace slow as both fighters either tired
or grew more cautious. The horn sounded in an audibly unhappy
Prudential Center, but Pyfer’s early work was enough to carry the
day by scores of 29-28, 29-27 and 30-27. With the win, the Philly
native moved to 14-3 overall, 6-1 in the UFC; Gastelum fell to
19-10 with one no contest, 14-11 with one no contest since winning
“The Ultimate Fighter” Season 17 a dozen years ago.
Bautista Dunks Mix
Tasked with welcoming one of the most highly anticipated free
agents to join the UFC in years, Mario
Bautista (16-2, 9-2 UFC) proved equal to the test and then
some, as he dominated Patrick
“Patchy” Mix for three rounds. Mix, a former Bellator
MMA bantamweight champ and discontented
Professional Fighters League acquisition, had his hands full
immediately, as Bautista walked him onto several flush fight hands
to the face and chest. Bautista continued to hammer “Patchy,”
mixing in solid two-handed punch combinations and leg and body
kicks with increasing confidence, bloodying his mouth and leaving
him looking shockingly inert. Whether it was part of his game plan
or simply because said game plan had gone out the window, Mix made
no serious attempt to take Bautista down in Round 1. He came out
sharper and more aggressive for the middle frame, and began landing
his own strikes with greater frequency, but still made no
particular effort to bring the fight into his world. The result was
round that felt closer than the first, but still clearly favored
the crisper, harder-hitting Bautista.
Heading into the final frame, Mix’s corner advised him that he
needed to do something big, all but telling him he was down two
rounds to none. Mix responded with a takedown attempt early that
Bautista evaded with ease, leaving the prize free agent on all
fours, grasping at nothing. Mix, to his credit, bit down on his
mouthguard and pressed the issue, stalking forward and throwing
hard strikes, but Bautista remained composed, accurate and
supremely confident. While the fight never turned into a full-on
rout, it was a serious drubbing that made Mix’s pre-fight claims of
being “on a different level” either bitterly ironic—or accurate,
just not in the way he may have meant. Mix landed a couple of
stinging punches late but was not able to capitalize on either. The
judges scored the bout in favor of the MMA Lab export by unanimous
decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27), his eighth straight victory and
perhaps the most important one yet. Mix’s deflating debut left him
20-2 overall and with plenty to prove in his next outing.
Holland Throttles Luque
In the welterweight pay-per-view opener, Kevin
Holland was his usual jovial-meets-brash self but delivered a
performance that was all business against Vicente
Luque. Holland got out to a fast start, tagging Luque with long
punches and a stream of his trademark in-cage chatter. Luque
appeared unfazed by the talk, but struggled with the speed and
power, and got very much the worst of his early clinch and takedown
attempts. On multiple occasions, Holland punished Luque in close
quarters, including an elbow strike that raised a huge lump behind
his left ear. Luque came out game for Round 2, but once again
Holland turned his foe’s aggressive tendencies against him, hurting
“The Silent Assassin” on the feet,
shucking off a takedown attempt and snaring his man in a tight
brabo choke as he tried to stand. Luque, one of the
UFC’s all-time leaders in finishes using that technique, joined his
fellow D’Arce specialist Michael
Chiesa in getting a dose of his own medicine from Holland. The
tap came at 1:03 of Round 2, giving the “Trailblazer” his second
win of 2025 and sending him to 28-13 overall with one no contest,
15-10 with one no contest in the UFC. Luque fell to 23-11-1
overall; 16-7 since graduating from Season 21 of “The Ultimate
Fighter.”