UFC 306: Shevchenko regains title; Dvalishvili unseats O'Malley

MANILA, Philippines – History has been made! UFC president Dana White promised a once-in-a-lifetime event when he announced a UFC event at Sphere in Las Vegas. 

From stellar production, iconic visuals and celebratory storytelling, to brilliant fights and stunning championships, UFC 306, held last Sunday, September 15, can be considered a massive, unrivaled success.

The two titles at stake changed hands.  

Georgian Merab Dvalishvili thoroughly dominated former bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley with his high cardio and counter attacking style, which stymied the latter.

Dvalishvili stayed on the move and landed takedowns, all of which kept O'Malley from landing his strikes. Once on the ground, Dvalishvili wore out O'Malley and took huge points from his near submissions and ground and pound.

O’Malley came alive in the fourth round where he clearly hurt Merab, but it wasn’t enough to retain his title as the latter rolled to a unanimous decision triumph, 49-46, 48-47, 48-47.

It was a perfect game plan that earned the Georgian the title belt to which he exclaimed, "Today I wasn't feeling any different than any other day, and I was curious because I'm fighting for the belt. But that's what I do every day, I work hard. Crazy! I feel like I'm in a dream. I just went step by step, and that's how I got here. I know O'Malley was good, but I made him look normal. Today, I'm the best fighter in the UFC. I proved it!"

For the third consecutive title fight, UFC flyweight champion Alexa Grasso was constantly forced to defend from the ground from former titleholder Valentina Shevchenko throughout their third and definitive meeting.

This third bout, Shevchenko was the aggressor and looking to create opportunities to take back what she feels in his rightful ownership — the title belt that she held for five years before Grasso snatched it away during UFC 285 in March of 2023. Their second meeting ended in a controversial draw that saw Grasso retain the belt in September of that same year.

Shevchenko landed takedowns at will and stayed on top position, while Grasso hunted for submissions off her back. There were close attempts from each, but a conservative Shevchenko stuck to her gameplan to carve out the unanimous decision victory all by identical 50-45 scorecards from the three judges. 

With the belt once more draped around her waist, Shevchenko said, "It's just so huge. It's like a dream come true fighting in Sphere. Thank you all for enjoying the show and being a part of the UFC family, the martial arts family. Everything about this fight was more satisfying. The game plan was to go in and fight to the end, do everything to win the fight. I want to thank Alexa because this rivalry we had was such a great result, this is what people want from women's martial arts, not hype and trash talk, but respect. This rivalry will stay in history forever."

The first ever sporting competition event held at the Sphere saw the UFC sell out all 16,024 tickets available. The top combat sports organization took home $22 million at the gate while selling the most merchandise of any UFC event in history.

The Daniel Zellhuber-Esteban Ribovics match was judged to be the Fight of the Night, while Ignacio Bahamondes and Ketlen Souza took home the Performance of the Night bonuses. 

UFC 306 was televised live in the Philippines via the Premier Sports and Tap Sports channels on Sky Cable and Cignal as well as on streaming application Blast TV. 

The next UFC live event is UFC Fight Night Renato Moicano vs. Benoit Saint-Denis, which will be shown on Sunday, September 29, at 3 a.m.