Merab Dvalishvili, Kayla Harrison steamroll for UFC bantamweight titles
With president Donald J. Trump watching cageside, Merab Dvalishvili and Kayla Harrison stormed to two incredible finishes at UFC 316.
Headlined by Dvalishvili and the former champion, Sean O’Malley, the UFC returned to Newark, NJ for a major night of fights. History marched on as the crowd watched in awe as both Dvalishvili and Harrison worked in two dominating performances.
Kayla Harrison also defeated the women’s 135 champion Juliana Pena with a second round kimura and called out Amanda Nunes. The two had a fantastic faceoff that was wholesome and respectful.
Merab Dvalishvili continues to steamroll 135
Merab Dvalishvili is seemingly invincible. Now on a 13 fight winning streak, one of the longest in UFC history. His rematch with Sean O’Mally was much more definitive than the two’s first round decision where “The Machine” captured the title. This time, the Syndicate MMA champion submitted O’Malley with a north south choke in round three, putting to rest a rivalry that’s been going on for years.
After Dvalishvili defeated O’Malley, he thanked the president for coming out and accepted Joe Rogan’s suggestion that Cory Sandhagen may be next for the shot at the bantamweight throne. Dvalishvili, with the crowd roaring behind him, gladly accepted the callout.
Whatever may be next for Dvalishvili, it doesn’t seem that he will slow down. With his current win streak, he’s beaten champions Jose Aldo, Petr Yan, Henry Cejudo and now O’Malley twice. In addition to that, Dvalishvili has run through Umar Nurmagomedov, Marlon Moraes, and John Dodson among others.
The arrival of Kayla Harrison
In the co-main event, Kayla Harrison captured UFC gold with her second round demolishing of Juliana Pena. Pena, who captured back the title in October of last year, stood no chance against the former two time judo Olympic gold medalist and the former PFL champion.
With ground control for nearly the entire fight, Harrison slowly worked her way to the submission at the end of round two with only five seconds to spare.
She and Amanda Nunes said that fighting each other would be an honor and many agree. Nunes, who is seen as the greatest women’s MMA fighter of all time, said that she was ready to come out of retirement following her last win over Irene Aldana in June of 2023.
Elsewhere on the card, Joe Pyfer jumped out to a hot start against Kelvin Gastelum before cooling down but still getting the win. Mario Bautista put a hurting on promotional newcomer Patchy Mix. Kevin Holland walked through Vicente Luque with a second round anaconda. The Myanmar native, Joshua Van, also put on a masterlcass with a third round finish over Bruno Silva.
Other winners at UFC 316 were Azamat Murzakanov, Waldo Cortes-Acosta, Andreas Gustafsson, Cong Wang, Joo Sang Yoo, Quillan Salkilld, and MarQuel Mederos.
