Merab Dvalishvili defeats Sean O'Malley to become UFC lightweight champion

The path to this victory was quite thorny for Merab – there were difficulties with the management of UFC, and with strong opponents, over whom victories were very difficult for the fighter. The title fight between Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O'Malley was more than spectacular. In the first round, Merab was nervous, then he simply pretended to be active on his hands and went into the fight. The Georgian fighter did not achieve a knockout, gradually pressing and exhausting his opponent. Sean was able to surprise by the fact that sometimes he very easily got out of situations when he fell into Merab's grips, but in the end, by unanimous decision of the judges, the victory was given to the Georgian after five rounds. All the judges gave Merab the first, second and fourth rounds, but two judges voted in Sean's favor in the third. Few expected such success from Merab after an unsuccessful start to his UFC career, when he lost his first two fights.

O'Malley's previous fight was in March of this year, where he won a unanimous decision over Marlon Vera. Merab's opponent has eighteen wins, two losses, and one fight that did not bring the fighter any results at all. Merab approached the fight with O'Malley with a series of ten fights in which he emerged victorious. In total, the current UFC lightweight champion has seventeen wins and four losses. He is experienced, knows how to impose his wrestling, and all his fights are very impressive and loved by the public.

Now fans of mixed martial arts are actively discussing the fight between Merab Dvalashvili and Umar Nurmagomedov. The Russian from Dagestan is currently number two in the UFC rankings and also craves the championship title. He is strong in mixed styles, technical, but less experienced than Merab. The fight between Sean O'Malley and Merab Dvalishvili became a classic example of the confrontation between two radically different fighting schools. "Sugar" showed a mediocre performance, except for individual episodes, and parted with the belt. Dvalishvili went home with the belt and a check for 1.43 million US dollars, which he is incredibly happy about. His success is well deserved, and the long road to the title made it even more valuable for the Georgian fighter. O'Malley won this title in August 2023, defeating Aljamain Sterling. Sterling was also a close friend of Dvalishvili, so the current lightweight champion also got even with his opponent for the comrade he defeated last year.