UFC

Sean O’Malley Upset By Merab Dvalishvili As Georgian Claims Bantamweight Title On Judges Decision

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Oliver Taliku
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Oliver Taliku Sports Editor

Olly Taliku has worked with highly respected sports and gambling websites where he has produced hundreds of articles, as well as being published with Burton Albion and Chesterfield FC. At Burton Olly worked closely alongside the women's team, producing mainly matchday content including reports and interviews, while at Chesterfield he worked in a similar role but with the academy side, as well as some first team content. He also has experience as an accredited Premier League and EFL writer for Prost International where he worked during the 2021/22 season to produce matchday content as an on location reporter. Olly specialises in football as well as long form SEO content plus news, tips and betting but also produces content on basketball, baseball and American football.

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Published15 Sep 2024

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Merab Dvalishvili - UFC

There was a big upset at UFC 306 this weekend, as Sean O’Malley lost his Bantamweight belt to challenger Merab Dvalishvili following the judges’ decision after five rounds.

All eyes were on the UFC main event this weekend, with many expecting a close matchup between ‘Sugar Sean’ O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili in the Octagon.

As expected, the fight was extremely close and it ended up going the distance after the pair couldn’t be separated in their Bantamweight title bout.

O’Malley was confident pre-fight over retaining his belt, but it was the challenger who came out on top, with Dvalishvili crowned the new Bantamweight champion.

As expected with the fight lasting all five rounds, there was plenty of action in the main event on Saturday and things looked like they might kick off at the end of the second round.

Dvalishvili had O’Malley in a hold against the cage as the seconds ticked down on the second round and as the bell rang, the Georgian appeared to kiss hiss opponent on the back of his neck.

There was no surprise that O’Malley reacted to the disrespectful action, as he jumped up from the canvas and took a couple of swings towards his opponent before the referee sent both fighters to their respective corners.

Dvalishvili had the last laugh though, as he held on for the next three rounds to win the fight after what was an extremely back and forth main event.

What Merab DvalishviliĀ Had To Say

Merab Dvalishvili explained the strange decision to kiss his opponent post fight, saying: ā€œSo I grab his neck and he has 10 seconds left.

ā€œI know he can wait and heā€™s not going to sleep or tap from this and I wanted to make just a little fun of him and make himā€”I donā€™t hate the guy, just make fun of him, but at same time, give him a little kiss to show that Iā€™m dominant. I control this fight, I break you. Thatā€™s why I was kissing him.ā€

The Georgian did go on to apologise to O’Malley, while saying that he had ‘fun’ during what ended up being a close win for the new Bantamweight champion.

ā€œBut I had too much fun there and I guess I [lost track of time], but when I let go, he followed me and he punched the back of my head and I protect myself again. I said, ā€˜Referee, again, Iā€™m sorry, referee. Iā€™m sorry.ā€

Dvalishvili has plenty of options for his next fight after Saturday night’s win, but it seems the most likely bout for the 33-year-old will be a rematch against O’Malley.