This past Saturday night in the main event of UFC 316, the bantamweight title was on the line. Champion Merab Dvalishvili (20-4) was looking to defend his title against the man he took the title from in former champion Sean O’Malley (18-3).
Entering this bout, a big story surrounded the health and mindset of Sean O’Malley. O’Malley talked about his hip injury leading up to their first fight and he truly believed that injury played a big role in his loss. O’Malley entered the octagon more focused than ever to try and regain the title. However, it was not going to be easy taking the belt from Dvalishvili.
Dvalishvili was able to use a ton of pressure and he was able to land a couple of takedowns to win the first round. O’Malley fought well in the second round but it still felt like Dvalishvili took the round with his pressure and ability to land big shots. Dvalishvili’s suffocating pressure really took its toll in the third round.
Dvalishvili was able to get O’Malley down and no matter how hard O’Malley worked to get up, he was taken right back down. Eventually, Dvalishvili was able to lock in a choke and O’Malley was stuck. He was forced to tap and Dvalishvili defended his UFC bantamweight title in dominating fashion.
What’s next after UFC 316?
After the fight ended on Saturday night, I was left wondering who in the world is going to be able to take out Dvalishvili. The next title challenger already appears to be set and the title challenger is likely going to be Cory Sandhagen who is coming off a win against Deiveson Figueiredo in Des Moines back in May.
Sandhagen was octagon side and Dvalishvili called for the fight with him after it was over. My guess is that we will likely see Dvalishvili and Sandhagen fight for the UFC title in October. Dvalishvili said that he wanted to defend his title two more times this year. Considering August’s PPV is already booked and there’s no PPV in September, my guess is that the two will fight in one of the October PPVs.