5 biggest winners from Noche UFC 306: Sean O'Malley vs. Merab Dvalishvili
This past weekend saw the UFC visit the Las Vegas Sphere for this year's Noche event. It was both a unique and fascinating one, both inside and outside the octagon.
Noche UFC 306: Sean O'Malley vs. Merab Dvalishvili saw two new champions crowned, but who were the real winners on the night?
Some might say Dana White and company, purely for producing such a memorable show. However, the fighters remain the real stars, and it's their victories we'll be talking about for some time.
Here are the five biggest winners from Noche UFC 306: Sean O'Malley vs. Merab Dvalishvili.
#5. Ignacio Bahamondes - defeated Manuel Torres in a UFC lightweight bout
Noche UFC 306's preliminary card was surprisingly short on finishes, with even hot prospect Raul Rosas Jr going the distance with overmatched foe Aoriqileng.
One fighter who did produce a finish, though, was Chile's Ignacio Bahamondes.
Faced with a highly touted foe in Manuel Torres, who had gone 3-0 in the octagon prior to the fight, Bahamondes seemed to be struggling early on. He ate some heavy shots from 'El Loco', who looked confident.
That all changed, though, when Bahamondes perfectly timed a counter right hand that sent the Mexican crashing to the ground. He was initially able to recover, but didn't change his approach, and ended up walking into another counter right for the knockout.
Bahamondes won't climb into the top 15 at 155 pounds with this win, but with five UFC wins to his name - four coming via highlight reel finish - it feels likely that the promotion will give him more opportunities to shine in the future.
Add in the bonus $50k he won for this performance, and he was definitely one of the night's big winners.
#4. Esteban Ribovics and Daniel Zellhuber - fought in a UFC lightweight bout
The very best fights - think classics like Griffin vs. Bonnar or Melendez vs. Sanchez - tend to make both fighters into bigger stars, regardless of the winner.
That's just what happened when lightweights Esteban Ribovics and Daniel Zellhuber decided to throw down, arguably stealing the show at Noche UFC 306.
The fight was already an exciting back-and-forth one before the third round began, and from there, it kicked into overdrive.
Zellhuber dropped 'El Gringo' with a spinning elbow, only for the Argentine to recover and open up on him with some wild combinations that had him running all over the octagon.
It was one of the wildest rounds in recent memory, and not only did it earn both men a bonus $50k, it also turned both men into stars with the crowd.
Whether they'll be remembered in a few months as the UFC machine churns on remains to be seen, but this fight should at least give them plenty of opportunities going forward.
While Ribovics got his hand raised, both men should consider themselves winners.
#3. Valentina Shevchenko - defeated Alexa Grasso for the UFC flyweight title
Any fighter who claims a UFC title in the octagon is going to be considered a huge winner, but Valentina Shevchenko did more than just reclaim her flyweight title this weekend.
'Bullet' was able to beat the only woman to ever defeat her at 125 pounds in Alexa Grasso at the third time of asking. Not only did she beat her, though, she utterly dominated her.
The Mexican champion barely had any kind of success in the bout, never truly coming close with a couple of submission attempts. Instead, she was forced onto the defensive from the off by Shevchenko, who used her powerful wrestling and top control to completely outwork her.
In their first fight, Shevchenko had been winning, only to make a fight-ending error. There was no such error here, and the native of Kyrgyzstan duly got her hand raised.
Now one of the few champions in UFC history to regain her title after losing it, 'Bullet' will almost certainly go down as a legend of the octagon - making her one of the weekend's biggest winners.
#2. Diego Lopes - defeated Brian Ortega in a UFC featherweight bout
Every up-and-coming UFC fighter has to step up to a higher level of competition at some stage, and many of them fail to make their mark.
That wasn't the case with Diego Lopes at the weekend, though.
The Mexican-Brazilian talent had reeled off four wins in a row after losing a late-notice debut to the highly rated Movsar Evloev. However, he had yet to face a true elite opponent.
Saturday's event matched him with former featherweight title challenger Brian Ortega, and it wouldn't have been a surprise to see Lopes wilt. After all, on paper, 'T-City' was more proven, with a better ground game and arguably better striking too.
However, Lopes didn't wilt. Instead, he thrived, destroying Ortega over three rounds with brick-like combinations and a powerful top game. Not since his fight with Max Holloway in 2018 had 'T-City' suffered such a beating.
It's hard to remember a fighter making a big step up quite so successfully as this, and with a featherweight title shot likely within his grasp, it's hard to consider Lopes anything but one of this weekend's biggest winners.
#1. Merab Dvalishvili - defeated Sean O'Malley for the UFC bantamweight title
The biggest winner at Noche UFC 306 was undoubtedly Merab Dvalishvili. Not only did he down the heavily favored Sean O'Malley to win the bantamweight title, but he also extended his insane winning streak to eleven fights.
The most telling thing about this win was that 'The Machine' didn't even need to switch up his usual gameplan. In the same way he'd done to the likes of Jose Aldo, Petr Yan and Henry Cejudo, the Georgian bullied O'Malley.
He forced 'Suga' out of his comfort zone by pushing a torrid pace, consistently took him down, abused him from top position and never really let him find any kind of rhythm. When the final buzzer went, there was no question as to who had won.
Dvalishvili will never be considered a flashy finisher like O'Malley, but right now, it'd be hard to find a more effective fighter in the entire promotion. How long his title reign can last remains to be seen, but for now, he is a champion and the biggest winner from this weekend.