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In the main event of UFC 306 on Saturday, Sean O’Malley lost the men’s bantamweight title to a dominant Merab Dvalishvili at the Sphere in Las Vegas.
“Sugar Sean” O’Malley was making his second defence of the belt, having won it from Aljamain Sterling with a picture-perfect knockout last August, before retaining it with a masterclass against Marlon Vera in March.
But the American star faced a stern test on Saturday, as he encountered a challenger on a 10-fight win streak. Georgia’s Dvalishvili entered the Sphere on the back of three straight victories against former champions: Henry Cejudo, Petr Yan and Jose Aldo.
And Dvalishvili added O’Malley’s name to that list by outwrestling the striking specialist for the best part of 25 minutes. O’Malley had his moments, including one scything elbow that cut open his challenger, but there was no doubt about the result when the scorecards arrived – with all of them in Dvalishvili’s favour: 49-46, 48-47, 48-47.
And in the co-main event, Valentina Shevchenko outpointed Alexa Grasso to regain the women’s flyweight belt, having previously lost to the Mexican and drawn with her in their first two meetings.
Re-live updates and see all results from UFC 306, below.
