Merab Dvalishvili delivered on his promise for an even better performance in his rematch against Sean O’Malley as he snatched a nasty choke in the third round to score a submission finish in the UFC 316 main event.
It was another vintage performance from the Georgian fighter as he just kept coming after O’Malley with relentless pressure and repeated takedowns. To his credit, O’Malley actually showed much better wrestling defense but he just couldn’t keep Dvalishvili off him and that’s what led to the end of the fight.
After bringing the fight back down again in the third round, Dvalisvhili saw an opening for a guillotine choke and O’Malley trying to roll free only tightened the champion’s grip. With no way to escape, O’Malley tapped out with the end coming at 4:42 in the third round.
“I’m on top of the world, I’m a world champion,” Dvalishvili shouted after his latest win. “I came from nothing. It doesn’t matter what you have as long as you know where you go and you have a goal. Please, believe in your dreams. Everything is possible.
“He was well prepared. I knew he was going to make changes. Every time I lost, I made a big change and I learned from it. But I’m getting better and better. Now it’s my time.”
Despite O’Malley’s best attempts to make adjustments, Dvalishvili had an answer at every turn and he stayed in control until he secured the finish.
When the fight started it was O’Malley trying to use constant movement to throw off the champion as he launched a punch and then circled away, trying to negate Dvalishvili from shooting on him. While O’Malley connected with a good lead jab, Dvalishvili’s pressure was just relentless as he stung the former champion with a stiff left hand before bringing him to the ground for the first time.
Dvalishvili just kept coming forward before bringing O’Malley down again but this time he was able to maintain position as he started dropping elbows and punches from the guard.
On the restart in the second round, O’Malley tried to play sniper from the outside but Dvalishvili was undeterred as he pushed forward and unloaded a nasty combination of his own. With O’Malley on his backfoot, Dvalishvili was constantly pursuing him across the cage but he still had to be careful not to eat a punch while working his way inside.
While O’Malley was defending the takedowns better, he was eating some hard punches from Dvalishvili, who seemed to be throwing strikes with a lot more confidence in the rematch.
Inevitably, Dvalishvili got inside and this time there was no shrugging him off as he lifted O’Malley off the ground and brought him crashing down again. From there, Dvalishvili was peppering away at O’Malley with punches and elbows and he even threw a few knees to the body for good measure.
Without the threat of a submission, O’Malley eventually scrambled free momentarily but Dvalishvili quickly snatched him and brought him down again. This time, Dvalishvili saw the perfect opening for the power guillotine choke and O’Malley barely had a chance to defend before the submission was locked on.
O’Malley tried to break free but somehow Dvalishvili just sunk the choke that much more and that ultimately ended the fight just a few seconds later. It was another awe-inspiring performance from Dvalishvili as he vanquishes O’Malley for a second time and the former champion had to give him his due.
“I didn’t feel like it was going to go like that,” O’Malley said about the loss. “Unfortunately it did. Merab is a motherf*cker. I just wanted to stick around and thank everybody that came out and supported us. If it wasn’t for you guys, this shit wouldn’t be possible. I feel super, super grateful right now that I get to do this.
“I have a two-week old at home a four year old at home and a perfect wife. So I’m excited to go home and spend some time with them but Merab’s a motherf*cker.”
Now riding a remarkable 13-fight win streak, Dvalishvili wasted no time turning his attention to Cory Sandhagen sitting cage side as the most deserving contender still standing in the bantamweight division.
“You’re the man, let’s go,” Dvalishvili said to Sandhagen. “He’s the most deserving guy. He’s a really good guy and I like his jokes, too.”
