‘Suga’ faces ‘The Machine’ at Noche UFC

‘Suga’ Sean O’Malley will look to successfully defend his bantamweight championship when he faces ‘The Machine’ Merab Dvalishvili in the main event of UFC 306 – also known as ‘Noche UFC’ – held at the Sphere in Las Vegas on the morning of Sunday 15 September.

O’Malley (18-1, 1 NC) made a first successful defence of his title when he defeated Marlon Vera (the only fighter to have beaten ‘Suga’) via unanimous decision at UFC 299 back in March of this year.

The 29-year-old American believes his fight will outshine boxer Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez’s super middleweight title match against Edgar Berlanga which is also taking place in Las Vegas on Sunday morning.

“When it comes to Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, who are [the fans and media] talking about?" O'Malley said. "Are they talking about Canelo? Are they talking about the boxing fight?

"Are they talking about the absolute dominating, beautiful, masterful, masterclass performance I put on Merab and the viral knockout that came with it?

“Or are they talking about a 36-minute Canelo boxing fight that was kind of fire. That’s what excites me, the competition of who are they talking about Sunday, Monday, Tuesday? Who stole the headlines?”

Dvalishvili (17-4) has earned his first UFC title shot thanks to 10 straight wins. His last three vanquished opponents are Jose Aldo, Petr Yan and Henry Cejudo, underlining the 33-year-old Georgian’s ability to overcome big name fighters.

GRASSO FACES SHEVCHENKO

The co-main event sees another title on the line, as Alexa Grasso (16-3-1) and Valentina Shevchenko (23-4-1) battle for the women’s flyweight belt. This will be the third successive meeting of the pair: Grasso dethroned Shevchenko as champion at UFC 285 in March 2023, and they then re-matched at a Fight Night later that year in September which ended in a split draw.

With the clash falling on the weekend ahead of Mexican Independence Day, Grasso is determined to end this rivalry with a victory at Noche UFC: “Now I know how to finish this fight, how to win perfectly with no judges. So I know how to finish the next fight. And just to make clear who's the champion, who's the winner from both of us.”

She added, “And I mean, I'm just training harder than ever in my life, you know, improving. And yeah, just waiting for that fight to happen!”

The rest of the main card features Brian Ortega v Diego Lopes in the featherweight division; a lightweight clash pitting Daniel Zellhuber against Esteban Ribovics; and Ronaldo Rodriguez v Ode’ Osbourne in the flyweight opener.

UFC 306 – Main card

- Main event: Bantamweight championship: Sean O’Malley v Merab Dvalishvili

- Co-main: Women’s flyweight championship: Alexa Grasso v Valentina Shevchenko

- Featherweight: Brian Ortega v Diego Lopes

- Lightweight: Daniel Zellhuber v Esteban Ribovics

- Flyweight: Ronaldo Rodriguez v Ode’ Osbourne