This September at Noche UFC, the promotion takes over The Sphere for a PPV that Dana White has been hyping for months. Tonight, we learned what the main event will be. White took to social media to announce that “Suga” Sean O’Malley (18-1, 1 NC) will defend his bantamweight title against Merab Dvalishvili (17-4).
This is the title fight we’ve been expecting, we just didn’t know when it would go down. Now, we know that the event that the UFC is pouring millions of dollars into will be headlined by one of their biggest stars. On September 14th, he’s going to have his hands full with arguably his toughest challenger.
Merab Dvalishvili got off to a really rough start inside the octagon. He lost his first two fights, but since then, he’s been perfect. Dvalishvili has gone on an incredible run where he’s won 10 straight fights. During that stretch he’s defeated the likes of Henry Cejudo, Petr Yan, and Jose Aldo. His most recent win came against Cejudo at UFC 298.
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While Sean O’Malley was rising up through the UFC’s bantamweight division, many called out the promotion for O’Malley’s lack of competition. O’Malley wasn’t given the toughest tests but that all changed when he fought Petr Yan in Abu Dhabi back in 2022.
O’Malley showed just how tough he was in that fight and one a very close split decision. That split decision win earned him a title shot against Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292 last August. O’Malley knocked Sterling out in the second round to become champion.
O’Malley’s first title defense came against Marlon Vera who had been the only man to defeat him. O’Malley avenged that loss in a huge way back in March when he ran through Chito Vera over the course of five rounds. Now, he’ll take on arguably his toughest challenge in the division looking for his second successful title defense.