It seemed like the ‘Suga Era’ was just starting until it wasn’t. Sean O’Malley ran into a force in ‘The Machine’ Merab Dvalishvili that he couldn’t stop. Just like that, for the second time in the past three Undisputed UFC Bantamweight title fights, a new champion has been crowned.
After 10 long years and 13 fights in the UFC, the pride of Tbilisi, Georgia, can call himself a world champion. Dvalishvili conquered O’Malley by way of a unanimous decision (49-46, 48-47, 48-47).
The road to becoming a champion has not been short or easy. Dvalishvili did what his teammate and close friend, Aljamain Sterling, could not do: defeat O’Malley. And spectacularly.
When Dvalishvili was 21 years old, he left Georgia and moved to the United States to realize his dream of becoming an MMA fighter. Dvalishvili joined a top gym in the sport, Serra-Longo Fight Team in Long Island, New York. Former UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Serra and Ray Longo are the main coaches at this gym.
Dvalishvili is the fourth fighter to win an Undisputed UFC title from this gym. He has joined Chris Weidman, Sterling, and Serra in that historic club. Merab wasn’t the UFC’s golden boy, he wasn’t supposed to get here. He is a true example of hard work and not allowing others to distract him from achieving his dreams.
Every fighter’s path to getting a chance to fight for a championship is different, and Dvalishvili didn’t take the easy path to get here. He beat three former bantamweight champions in Jose Aldo, Petr Yan, and Henry Cejudo.
If you had said that Dvalishvili would become a future champion after losing his first two UFC fights against Frankie Saenz and Ricky Simon, you would have been called crazy. Yes, how he wins his fights may not be the most exciting given he only has one knockout finish during his 11-fight win streak, but he dominates his opponents from start to finish.
This moment will be remembered forever as the first sporting event at Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada. Once the main card started, Sphere quickly amazed people with the movies playing between each fight and the unbelievable graphics throughout the event. It truly was a one-of-one viewing experience, and it will be hard to top in the future as a perfect combination of entertainment and MMA. It was refreshing to see a new venue with a different presentation of the UFC.
The odds all week leading up until the contest started went back and forth but Merab ended up closing as a -120 favorite on DraftKings Sportsbook. He was also +165 to win this fight by decision.
Now that Dvalishvili is the new bantamweight champion, let’s take a look at who his upcoming challengers could be.
- No. 2 Umar Nurmagomedov
Nurmagomedov is most likely the next challenger for the new champion. He was sitting in the front row watching the main event on Saturday. Nurmagomedov is the cousin of former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Nurmagomedov is 18-0 in his MMA career and 6-0 in the UFC, with three finishes inside the Octagon. Most recently, he beat his toughest opponent to date, Cory Sandhagen, in a unanimous decision. In that fight, he had five takedowns and over five minutes of control time. Nurmagomedov is the No. 2 bantamweight contender on the official UFC rankings. He is the next great fighter from Dagestan who is trying to win a world title.
To me, Nurmagomedov should fight Deiveson Figueiredo in a No. 1 contender fight because one win over a top 15 guy shouldn’t warrant a title shot. But the UFC has shown in the past that they like to push fighters from that family quicker than others.
- No. 4 Deiveson Figueiredo
After Dvalishvili won the title, he said he wanted to fight the former UFC Flyweight champion, Figueiredo, in his first title defense. Since ‘Figgy’ moved to fight at 135 pounds, all he has done is win. He has won three straight fights against Rob Font, Cody Garbrandt, and Marlon Vera. Beating a former champion and a former title challenger is impressive for Figueiredo because he is a smaller guy for the division. Figueiredo is unlikely to get the next title shot, but crazier things have happened in this sport, so you never know.
- Sean O’Malley
Although O’Malley wasn’t a very long-reigning champion, his reign is memorable. He knocked out arguably the greatest UFC bantamweight champion at that time in Sterling and had one of the most dominant striking performances in recent memory.
This is the least likely scenario to play out and I would rather see O’Malley rebuild himself and face Cory Sandhagen. That would be an incredible battle between two of the best strikers in this division.
‘The Machine’ is ready for whoever’s next.
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