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Sean O’Malley has overturned Merab Dvalishvili’s victory at UFC 306.

That doesn’t mean a whole lot to UFC or its matchmakers; but in fantasy land, the belt has been returned to “Suga” and will be defended against No. 2-ranked title contender Umar Nurmagomedov at some point next summer.

O’Malley insists he won three of the five rounds inside Sphere in Las Vegas.

“Rewatching the fight,” O’Malley wrote on Twitter. “Round 1, I won that round 100%!! Based on damage that’s my round. Round 2 definitely lost. Took very little damage though. Round 3 was closer than Round 1 in my opinion. My round. Up 2-1 going into Round 4. Round 4 [was] Merab’s round for sure. 2-2 going into the 5th. Round 5 I won. I am the champ. God is good. 1, 3, 5 rounds I won. Defending belt against Umar in Vegas June-July. Please ESPN, UFC, repost the fight. AND STILL!”

Unfortunately for Merab, the Suga State Athletic Commission has already voted.

Losing to Dvalishvili will not keep O’Malley from scoring the next bantamweight title shot, according to this outspoken manager. That scenario, however, requires a victory from Nurmagomedov when he battles “The Machine” at some point in early 2025.

Unless this unexpected matchup comes to fruition.

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Former UFC champ Matt Serra was not impressed with Sean O’Malley’s coach Tim Welch at UFC 306.

Merab Dvalishvili defeated O’Malley to capture the bantamweight title in the main event of the promotion’s debut card at Sphere in Las Vegas. Serra, who cornered Dvalishvili on many occasions in the past, reacted to the fight — and more specifically, Welch’s cornering efforts on his UFC Unfiltered podcast with comedian Jim Norton.

“This fight exposed him as a coach because when your guy is winning and knocking people out, sure, you look like a f*cking superhero,” Serra said. “When your fighter is obviously losing the fight — and starts losing rounds — Tim Welch was, like, not wanting to hurt [O’Malley’s] feelings. ‘OK, good round,’ no, you’re losing f*cking three rounds. You got to get in his ass. … He was afraid that he did not know how to handle his guy [with] that many rounds, and I thought his f*cking corner work was shit.

“So he exposed himself. [Dvalishvili] took care of business and Tim Welch had no answers for his fighter.”

O’Malley said he had “zero excuses” for his performance in the aftermath, and said he would take an extended period of time off following the second loss of his pro career. “Sugar” then revealed that he suffered a torn labrum, and will be heading for surgery on Oct. 3.

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Deiveson Figueiredo is confident that he should be first in line against newly crowned UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili.

The former UFC flyweight kingpin has gone 3-0 so far at 135-pound with wins over Rob Font, Cody Garbrandt and Marlon Vera, and was at The Sphere this past Saturday to watch Dvalishvili dethrone Sean O’Malley in the main event of UFC 306 and mention his name at the post-fight press conference.

“I was watching the fight and in the end he looked at me, I was 10 meters away from him, and he started pointing at me,” Figueiredo said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “I was rooting for him because now we can make this fight happen. I thought he would call me out in the cage but he mentioned my name in interviews, and I’m here, man.”

Dvalishvili said the Brazilian “deserves it more” than top-contender Umar Nurmagomedov, who’s 6-0 so far in the UFC and recently beat Cory Sandhagen via decision.

“Umar talking about [a title shot], some bullshit there,” Dvalishvili said on Saturday. “[Before he fought Sandhagen] he defeated somebody [in their] debut and then now he wants to fight for the belt? You are out of your mind.

“Figueiredo deserves it more. He’s a former champion, he’s a big name. He’s been fighting. He already beat one former champion and two guys from the top 15. Actually, [Marlon] ‘Chito’ Vera doesn’t count because ‘Chito’ Vera is not a top-15 fighter. He sucks. But Figueiredo deserves it more. He has my respect. He’s a man and he’s been respectful and he’s cool and he didn’t get here because he’s somebody’s cousin. He got here by himself. He’s a good fighter. He’s been there. He was a champion. At least he’s humble and he’s a real fighter.”

Figueiredo agrees with the champion, adding that Nurmagomedov is still untested against the elite of the division. Nurmagomedov’s best wins other than Sandhagen were Raoni Barcelos and Brian Kelleher, both via first-round finish.

“Umar just got here,” Figueiredo said. “He just had his first fight against a tough guy and I’m sure he has to get tested more, to fight someone else first — maybe [O’Malley]. I’m already tested. I left a division where I was champion and moved up and fought strong guys. I had no easy fights. I definitely present more danger to Merab. I’m ready to fight him.

“People have been calling me out since I got to this division. Maybe they think I’m an easy fight, but I show them otherwise in the octagon. I’m ready, man. I’m ready to fight for the belt. I want to win that belt.”

Figueiredo said he would be willing to face Dvalishvili at UFC 310 on Dec. 7, if the champion is healthy for a relatively short turnaround. Dvalishvili competed in seven rounds this year, going 2-0 against Henry Cejudo and O’Malley. The Brazilian veteran said he will focus on grappling training to “confuse” Dvalishvili and become a two-division champion.

“It’s hard for Merab to change his style,” Figueiredo said. “His style is annoying, he trades a little bit and then takes you down pretty fast. You have to be really smart when you fight someone like Merab to put him in danger, too, and I am that guy. I have good jiu-jitsu, I’ve been working a lot on my grappling, and I’ll focus even more on my wrestling now that I’m aiming for this fight.”

“I’ve been evolving a lot in my grappling every since I moved up in weight,” he continued. “I left a division where I was more of a striker and brawled everybody, and now I see people doing more grappling in this division, so I went back a bit and re-activated my knowledge in grappling.”

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UFC 306 is officially in the books, and Merab Dvalishvili is the new UFC bantamweight champion after defeating Sean O’Malley in the main event via unanimous decision. Where do both guys go from this past Saturday’s card, and with O’Malley announcing he’s having surgery, can he get back to a title shot quickly?

On an all-new edition of Between the Links, Jon Anik kicks off the show to give his reaction to the event, the Sphere experience with Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier, Dvalishvili and Valentina Shevchenko becoming new champions, and more. Additionally, topics may include the two big fights announced for UFC 309 with Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic becoming official, along with Charles Oliveira vs. Michael Chandler 2 getting revealed as the co-main event, Conor McGregor’s absence from the octagon extending even longer, and whatever else is on your mind.

MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck and Jed Meshew take your questions all show long.

Watch the show live at 12:30 p.m. ET / 9:30 a.m. PT in the video above.

If you missed the show live, you can still watch above, or listen to the podcast version, which can be found below and on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your pods.

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