Noche UFC 306: Sean O'Malley vs. Merab Dvalishvili: Full Results
Noche UFC 306 is in the books. The event took place on Sept. 14 at The Sphere, Las Vegas. It was the first combat sports event to take place at the venue and commemorated the Mexican Independence Day. Apart from two title fights, it featured several promising fighters from Mexico. This article recaps the fights and explores the full results.
In the main event, bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley attempted the second title defense against No.1-ranked Merab Dvalishvili. One of the most intriguing stylistic matchups in the division, it had the classic striker vs. grappler dynamic to it. Additionally, there was a touch of personal rivalry as O'Malley won the title from Dvalishvili's teammate and close friend Aljamain Sterling.
After the initial feeling out process, Dvalishvili assumed the center of the cage and got the first takedown less than three minutes into the fight. He stayed busy with controlling ‘Suga’ against the cage with peppering strikes and submission attempts.
Dvalishvili’s takedown threat stripped O'Malley of many of his weapons. Meanwhile, hesitation in O'Malley's movement became increasingly apparent as he tried to find openings to land strikes.
Dvalishvili remained defensively responsible and held his own in the stand-up. Meanwhile, O'Malley’s strikes started finding the mark by the midway point of the fight and he stuffed many takedown attempts. However, the challenger regained control and dominated the champion on the mat for the majority of the fourth round.
At the beginning of Round 5, it became evident that O'Malley was trailing on the scorecards. He had Dvalishvili hurt with front kicks to the body in the final frame but 'The Machine' manged the risk and stayed out of harm's way.
After five rounds of domination, Dvalishvili cruised to a unanimous decision victory to win the UFC bantamweight title.
The co-main event saw women's flyweight champion Alexa Grasso in a trilogy fight against her predecessor Valentina Shevchenko. Grasso captured the title with an upset win over Shevchenko at UFC 285 and retained it with a split draw in September 2023. The pair were rival coaches in 'The Ultimate Fighter' Season 32 and their familiarity with each other added a new layer to the trilogy fight.
As expected, Shevchenko took a completely different approach to the fight on Saturday and made it a grappling-heavy contest, controlling Grasso on the ground for the majority of the contest. Grasso, who struggled to keep the fight standing, constantly threatened with submissions from the bottom.
However, the submission threat did not deter 'Bullet' from her game plan as she repeated the process in every round, recapturing the women's flyweight title with a unanimous decision victory.
Statistically, Shevchenko outstruck Grasso 193-153 in terms of total strikes, secured eight takedowns, and accrued upward of 20 minutes in terms of control time. This was her ninth UFC title fight victory. Former two-division champion Amanda Nunes is the only fighter with more title defenses (11).
Noche UFC 306 main card results: Diego Lopes and Esteban Ribovics score impressive victories
Rising featherweight contender and Alexa Grasso's teammate Diego Lopes took a major step up in competition as he challenged No.3-ranked Brian Ortega on the main card. The duo were expected to fight at UFC 303 but the fight was canceled after Ortega was declared medically unfit to compete and Lopes defeated Dan Ige who stepped up on short notice.
The promotion rebooked the fight given the entertainment value it promised with Lopes and Ortega's exciting styles. Lopes, who appeared to be gunning for a statement victory against the most notable opponent of his career so far, aggressively pushed forward, hurting Ortega and pursuing submissions in Round 1.
While the activity level fell off significantly in Round 2, Lopes maintained control. Both men tried to snatch the win with a convincing performance in Round 3. Lopes put Ortega on wobbly legs once again but Ortega, who has been one of the most difficult featherweights to finish, made it to the final bell. All three judges scored the bout in Lopes' favor.
One of the most promising prospects from Mexico, Daniel Zellhuber took on Argentina's Esteban Ribovics in a lightweight contest on the main card. Having amassed three wins since arriving in the UFC, Zellhuber had the momentum on his side. Meanwhile, Ribovics was coming off a head-kick KO win over a notable opponent Terrance McKinney in his promotional debut in May.
At Noche UFC 306, both men took a measured approach and launched calculated attacks to the head, body, and legs. Zellhuber, who appeared to have a significant size advantage in the cage, tried to use his length to keep Ribovics away. However, Ribovics had success when he mixed up attacks on the body and head.
As the fight progressed, Zellhuber had a lot of success fighting at range while Ribovics landed the cleaner and more impactful strikes in the close-range exchanges. Both men seemed comfortable with the power coming from each other but a well-timed short elbow from Zellhuber caught Ribovics coming in, dropping him momentarily in Round 3.
However, hell broke loose shortly after as a perfectly placed right hand from Ribovics cracked the Mexican and put him on wobbly legs. The 28-year-old aggressively pursued a finish with clean strikes, while Zellhuber did a great job deflecting the impact of strikes with effective head movement, guard, and a few good shots of his own.
That said, Ribovics did not allow his opponent to recover until the final bell. Two of the three judges scored the closely contested fight in Ribovics' favor, declaring him the winner by split decision.
In the main card opening bout, Mexico's Ronaldo Rodriguez fought veteran fighter Ode Osbourne. Rodriguez made his UFC debut with a second-round submission win over Denys Bondar. Meanwhile, Osbourne, who was on a two-fight skid heading into Noche UFC 306, needed the win to stay relevant in the flyweight division.
The pair had a heated altercation in the pre-fight press conference and carried the same energy throughout the fight. Osbourne caught Rodriguez coming in, knocking him down and threatening with submissions for the majority of the opening round.
Rodriguez survived the early scare and successfully reversed the outcome with superior grappling and striking. The pair had several technical and gritty exchanges on the feet and the ground. Rodriguez, who appeared to have won a majority of those, was declared the winner by unanimous decision.
Noche UFC 306 preliminary card results: Joshua Van and Edgar Chairez put on a war, Ignacio Bahamondes and Ketlen Souza earn finishes
In the preliminary card headlining bout, No.5-ranked women's bantamweight contender Irene Aldana fought No.8-ranked Norma Dumont. This was the first opportunity of Dumont's fighting career to earn a top-five spot in the divisional rankings. She was riding the momentum with a four-fight win streak heading into the fight.
Her opponent, Aldana, got back in the win column with a unanimous decision victory over Karol Rosa in her last fight. She had come up short in a bantamweight title fight against former champion Amanda Nunes before that. A potential win over Dumont presented an opportunity for her to reinsert her name in the title picture.
Dumont assumed the role of the aggressor to establish her dominance on the cage in Round 1. She displayed superior striking and high output as Aldana took a while to open up. Dumont battered her face with crisp shots and held her own in the final round as Aldana ramped up the activity level, walking away with a unanimous decision victory.
In the only strawweight fight on the card, Ketlen Souza defeated Yazmin Jauregui by technical submission to get her second UFC win. Souza dropped Jauregui with a vicious left hand and quickly sank a rear-naked choke. The Mexican fighter tried to fight it off but passed out a few seconds later, prompting the referee to stop the action.
Lightweight contender Ignacio Bahamondes scored his second-straight KO win on the preliminary card against Manuel Torres. Bahamondes caught Torres coming in with a counter right hand and dropped him to the canvas.
The Mexican survived the knockdown but went down the second time with a similar strike. The referee stepped in to stop the action after a few follow-up strikes, declaring Bahamondes the winner.
The preliminary card opened with a flyweight contest between Joshua Van and Edgar Chairez. As Chairez appeared to be in control of the fight after Round 1, Van made a strong comeback with a barrage of strikes to the head and the body that visibly hurt the Mexican and the end appeared to be in sight.
However, Chairez halted Van's march with a spinning back elbow in the heat of the moment and pulled a guillotine. Van settled in the top position by the end of the round and fought aggressively in the third round, scoring a unanimous decision victory to get back in the win column.
In the first fight of the night, Raul Rosas Jr. fought Qileng Aori in the bantamweight division. Rosas Jr. is the youngest fighter on the UFC roster and has garnered a lot of fan interest with his dynamic fighting style and interesting personality.
'El Nino Problema' was coming off back-to-back wins over Terrence Mitchell and Ricky Turcios since suffering the maiden loss of his professional MMA career against Christian Rodriguez at UFC 287.
In the fight, Rosas Jr. successfully implemented his grappling-heavy game to take Aori down and threaten him with submissions and ground-and-pound attacks. To his credit, Aori offered good resistance in the second round and stopped many of the Mexican's takedowns. However, Rosas Jr. did enough in the first and third rounds to win on the scorecards.
Check out the full Noche UFC 306 results below:
Main card
Bantamweight - Merab Dvalishvili def. Sean O'Malley by unanimous decision (49-46, 48-47 X 2) (Title fight)
Women's flyweight - Valentina Shevchenko def. Alexa Grasso by unanimous decision (50-45 X 3) (Title fight)
Featherweight - Diego Lopes def. Brian Ortega by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27 X 2)
Lightweight - Esteban Ribovics def. Daniel Zellhuber by split decision (29-28 X 2, 28-29)
Flyweight - Ronaldo Rodriguez def. Ode Osbourne by unanimous decision (29-27 X 2, 29-28)
Preliminary card
Women's bantamweight - Norma Dumont def. Irene Aldana by unanimous decision (30-27 X 3)
Lightweight - Ignacio Bahamondes def. Manuel Torres by T/KO (R1, 4:02)
Strawweight - Ketlen Souza def. Yazmin Jauregui by technical submission (Rear-naked choke) (R1, 3:02)
Flyweight - Joshua Van def. Edgar Chairez by unanimous decision (29-28 X 3)
Early prelims
Bantamweight - Raul Rosas Jr. def. Qileng Aori by unanimous decision (29-28 X 3)