Dana White confirms Sean O’Malley’s next fight as stacked UFC card with two title bouts unveiled
Sean O’Malley will headline UFC 316 against bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili on his return to the Octagon. UFC CEO Dana White announced the huge fight on Tuesday night, with Julianna Pena defending her women’s bantamweight title against Kayla Harrison in the co-main event. O’Malley will stand toe-to-toe with Dvalishvili for the second time at UFC 316Getty O’Malley, 30, hasn’t fought since dropping the 135-pound title to Dvalishvili, 34, last September inside Las Vegas’ iconic Sphere. He won gold for the first time in White’s promotion by knocking out Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292 in August 2023. O’Malley then made his first defence of the belt against Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera seven months later, avenging his one and only career defeat to the Ecuadorian, before tasting his second loss to Dvalishvili. Dvalishvili, meanwhile, is fresh off a convincing victory on his first bantamweight title defence against Umar Nurmagomedov in January at UFC 311. He is also on a 12-fight win streak and broke UFC legend Georges St-Pierre‘s record for the most takedowns in the promotion’s history after his win against Nurmagomedov. The Georgian now has the chance to cement his name once again as the greatest at 135lbs through a rematch with O’Malley at New Jersey’s Prudential Centre on June 8. Last month, Dvalishvili bumped into O’Malley at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas, Nevada, and discussed their imminent rematch in a viral encounter. O’Malley asked the champion if he was ready to go again, before crediting Dvalishvili for his performance against Nurmagomedov. “Your last fight was impressive. You looked good, that was a fun fight to watch,” he said. Dvalishvili responded: “When are we gonna fight? I know you hit hard and then I know you’re gonna change plan. O’Malley has lost just twice in the UFC since emerging through the Contender Series in 2017Getty Images - Getty O’Malley answered: “I only had one hip last time. I have both hips now…I would say good luck but no I hope you have bad luck.” After his loss to Dvalishvili, ‘Suga’ was forced to undergo surgery to repair a torn shoulder labrum and had a target to return in the first quarter of 2025. O’Malley’s surgery was a success, but he was also struggling with other things in his life. The 30-year-old told his nearly five million Instagram followers that while preparing for the rematch he was planning to disconnect from social media, calling it the ‘biggest distraction’ in his life, to reclaim his UFC title. “I’d be working out and I’d check my Snapchat, post some Snapchat, check Instagram,” he explained in December. “Like dude, even just three days or whatever it’s been, I already feel like—the original reason—and I don’t know how to articulate this yet, but I feel like my higher self is trying to tell me something. Ex-UFC champion O’Malley cut out all social media after losing his titleGetty Dvalishvili is on a 12-fight UFC win streak and will be the favourite in the rematchGetty “I’m trying to learn something, but I’m too distracted and out of touch with reality to grasp what’s trying to be taught from my higher self. “And I feel like the only way to do that is just to disconnect from distractions. “Social media is the biggest distraction right now for me.” All but one of O’Malley’s 11 UFC victories have earned ‘Suga’ a performance related bonus, while 12 of his 18 career wins have come by way of knockout. Fellow UFC bantamweight Cory Sandhagen believes O’Malley has an advantage over Dvalishvili going into the rematch. He told MMA Junkie last month: “I love rooting for an underdog. “So maybe O’Malley will do well, but it’s hard for me to imagine the fight going too different from the first one. “But also at the same time, the guy who has the puncher’s chance, obviously their ability to knock the person out goes up if you give them another 25 minutes to try to figure out how to do so. “It’s definitely an advantage for O’Malley going into this fight.”
Sean O’Malley will headline UFC 316 against bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili on his return to the Octagon.
UFC CEO Dana White announced the huge fight on Tuesday night, with Julianna Pena defending her women’s bantamweight title against Kayla Harrison in the co-main event.
O’Malley, 30, hasn’t fought since dropping the 135-pound title to Dvalishvili, 34, last September inside Las Vegas’ iconic Sphere.
He won gold for the first time in White’s promotion by knocking out Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292 in August 2023.
O’Malley then made his first defence of the belt against Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera seven months later, avenging his one and only career defeat to the Ecuadorian, before tasting his second loss to Dvalishvili.
Dvalishvili, meanwhile, is fresh off a convincing victory on his first bantamweight title defence against Umar Nurmagomedov in January at UFC 311.
He is also on a 12-fight win streak and broke UFC legend Georges St-Pierre‘s record for the most takedowns in the promotion’s history after his win against Nurmagomedov.
The Georgian now has the chance to cement his name once again as the greatest at 135lbs through a rematch with O’Malley at New Jersey’s Prudential Centre on June 8.
Last month, Dvalishvili bumped into O’Malley at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas, Nevada, and discussed their imminent rematch in a viral encounter.
O’Malley asked the champion if he was ready to go again, before crediting Dvalishvili for his performance against Nurmagomedov.
“Your last fight was impressive. You looked good, that was a fun fight to watch,” he said.
Dvalishvili responded: “When are we gonna fight? I know you hit hard and then I know you’re gonna change plan.
O’Malley answered: “I only had one hip last time. I have both hips now…I would say good luck but no I hope you have bad luck.”
After his loss to Dvalishvili, ‘Suga’ was forced to undergo surgery to repair a torn shoulder labrum and had a target to return in the first quarter of 2025.
O’Malley’s surgery was a success, but he was also struggling with other things in his life.
The 30-year-old told his nearly five million Instagram followers that while preparing for the rematch he was planning to disconnect from social media, calling it the ‘biggest distraction’ in his life, to reclaim his UFC title.
“I’d be working out and I’d check my Snapchat, post some Snapchat, check Instagram,” he explained in December.
“Like dude, even just three days or whatever it’s been, I already feel like—the original reason—and I don’t know how to articulate this yet, but I feel like my higher self is trying to tell me something.
“I’m trying to learn something, but I’m too distracted and out of touch with reality to grasp what’s trying to be taught from my higher self.
“And I feel like the only way to do that is just to disconnect from distractions.
“Social media is the biggest distraction right now for me.”
All but one of O’Malley’s 11 UFC victories have earned ‘Suga’ a performance related bonus, while 12 of his 18 career wins have come by way of knockout.
Fellow UFC bantamweight Cory Sandhagen believes O’Malley has an advantage over Dvalishvili going into the rematch.
He told MMA Junkie last month: “I love rooting for an underdog.
“So maybe O’Malley will do well, but it’s hard for me to imagine the fight going too different from the first one.
“But also at the same time, the guy who has the puncher’s chance, obviously their ability to knock the person out goes up if you give them another 25 minutes to try to figure out how to do so.
“It’s definitely an advantage for O’Malley going into this fight.”
