Merab Dvalishvili produced another dominant title defence to submit Sean O’Malley in their rematch at UFC 316 and stake his claim as the greatest bantamweight of all time.
Dvalishvili made his second defence of the belt, having dethroned O’Malley with a comprehensive decision win in September, before outpointing Umar Nurmagomedov in a stunning comeback in January.
The Georgian quickly took control of the bout, impressing with his sharp striking before he even got going on the mat and taking the first two rounds.
He was then able to bring the fight to the ground in the third, where he suffocated O’Malley before locking in a neck crank to force a tap – his first finish of what is becoming an era-defining title reign.
A relentless fighter who currently looks near-impossible to stop, his resume warrants inclusion in the GOAT conversation, having defeated the likes of Jose Aldo, Henry Cejudo and Petr Yan – all former champions – on his way to the mountain top.
Next up for the champion could be Cory Sandhagen, who he called out in his post-fight interview – a potential clash that fans will no doubt clamour at.
Dvalishvili’s triumph came after Kayla Harrison dethroned Julianna Pena in the co-main event to become the UFC’s bantamweight queen, submitting Pena in the second to live up to her favourable odds and join Cejudo as only the second athlete ever to boast an Olympic gold medal and UFC gold on their resume.
She promptly used the throne to invite Amanda Nunes into the cage and offer her a route out of retirement, a proposal the women’s MMA great accepted to set up a mouth-watering title clash.
Also in action was former Bellator champion Patchy Mix, whose UFC debut proved incredibly underwhelming as he lost convincingly to Mario Bautista.
Mix was flat-footed and only hinted at going up the gears with 30 seconds left of the fight, losing by unanimous decision and getting his UFC career off to the worst possible start.
Fan favourite Kevin Holland kicked off the main card with a submission victory over Vicente Luque, sinking in a D’Arce choke that put an end to an entertaining opener that lived up to expectation.
Joe Pyfer was also victorious on the main card albeit by a frustrating decision, with the ever-resilient Kelvin Gastelum fighting back from a nightmare first round to force the fight to the scorecards.
