Merab Dvalishvili brought the Suga Show to an abrupt end by defeating Sean O’Malley by unanimous decision to capture the bantamweight title in the main event of Noche UFC at The Sphere in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
The judges scored the fight 49-46, 48-47 and 48-47 for Dvalishvili (18-4), who has won 11 fights in a row and ended O’Malley’s seven-fight winning streak.
O’Malley (18-2, 1 NC) defended his title for the second time after knocking out Aljamain Sterling. In his first title defense, he won on points against Marlon Vera.
O’Malley’s speed advantage while standing was evident in the first round, but Dvalishvili’s grappling was too much for the champion. He attempted his first takedown and got it about three minutes into the fight. O’Malley quickly got back to his feet but took a few hits as Dvalishvili wrestled him against the cage. The challenger kept up the pressure, managed a second takedown and landed short punches and knees against the cage.
Dvalishvili’s third takedown came two minutes into the second round when he dodged a right hand from O’Malley and took him down. The challenger was able to better control O’Malley and keep him grounded while peppering him with punches and hard knees. O’Malley’s best punch came after Dvalishvili inexplicably released a guillotine choke and walked away seconds before the end of the round, allowing the champion to land a hard right from behind.
Dvalishvili continued to pressure O’Malley in Round 3, wrestling him against the cage again and keeping him busy with short punches and knee strikes. O’Malley struggled to find a rhythm standing up as Dvalishvili was busy with leg kicks and threatening level changes, but he landed a hard right hand and caught the challenger with a big knee strike as he charged in.
O’Malley stunned Dvalishvili in the first minute of the fourth round with an overhand right to the head that appeared to leave the challenger with a gash around his left eye. But Dvalishvili quickly regained control of the round, attempting and landing another takedown. O’Malley got back to his feet, but Dvalishvili stayed with him and continued to apply pressure, wearing down the champion with elbows and knees. Dvalishvili finished the round with a flurry of punches.
Despite being ahead on the cards, Dvalishvili didn’t let up and took O’Malley down again about a minute into the final round. O’Malley got back to his feet and fought vigorously, connecting with a straight left hand and badly hurting Dvalishvili with a kick to the body that forced the challenger to attempt another takedown. O’Malley dodged and caught the challenger with a powerful uppercut on the way to the finish.
But it was already too little and too late, because the final bell rang and Dvalishvili jumped onto the cage to celebrate.
