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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Merab Dvalishvili put on a clinic at UFC 306 as he dethroned Sean O’Malley to become the new bantamweight champion, but the fight started with an unusual moment that forced referee Herb Dean to get involved.

Just seconds into the opening round, Dvalishvili motioned towards his opponent’s corner and got the referee’s attention as he started exchanging words with O’Malley’s head coach Tim Welch. In the weeks leading up to UFC 306, Dvalishvili got rather heated when addressing some comments he took as insults from Welch, not to mention the coach apparently shouting instructions to Aljamain Sterling during his own fight against O’Malley back in August 2023.

It turns out the same thing was happening this past Saturday night with Dvalishvili revealing his side of the story after Dean was forced to admonish O’Malley’s coaches for shouting at him in the opening moments of the fight.

“Everyone is asking what happened at start of fight — I was trying to stay professional and focus on the fight only, not wanting to change the energy of the fight,” Dvalishvili explained on Twitter. “I made no eye contact with O’Malley’s team. But when the fight started I hear his team calling out to me ‘Merab!’ Trying to coach, provoke and distract me. I yelled back at them cut it out and coach your own guy.

“I remembered they pulled the same crap with Aljo. Not professional. This is the way they want their fighter to win. It’s a shame how disrespectful they are and that they have zero sportsmanship!”

The incident ultimately didn’t affect Dvalishvili’s performance, but his own head coach admittedly got fired up in the corner after the exchange.

“That’s not our job,” Syndicate MMA head coach John Wood told MMA Fighting following UFC 306. “I’m not trashing Tim for anything he does. I respect Tim, but it is a bullshit move. I was yelling at Tim across the cage several times when Sean would mess up ,and I was making sure Sean heard me calling out everything that he wanted to throw.

“When he would do something stupid, I caught myself a couple of times in the fight going ‘Tim, did you teach him that? That was terrible!’ [shouting] across the cage.”

Wood says he really didn’t want to get involved at all, but it was tough not to respond after hearing Welch talk trash to Dvalishvili in past podcasts, interviews, and social media posts leading up to UFC 306.

It sounds like the same thing started happening at the beginning of the fight but Dvalishvili got the last laugh after he largely shut down O’Malley’s striking and dominated the majority of the fight to win a unanimous decision.

“Fighters are there to trash talk, to build the fight, do their thing, whether they like each other, don’t like each other, I don’t think it’s a place for coaches to get in,” Wood said. “Tim was doing some stuff beforehand like at the weigh-ins, he was talking shit to Merab on camera, saying things and that’s fine. If you really feel like you need that mental edge and especially you could see how fragile Sean was and how quick he broke, maybe they do.

“But like I said, I have nothing against Tim. The tactics, I wouldn’t do it, I don’t need the shine. I don’t need to be the guy in front of my fighter looking to get attention. I’m not saying that’s what Tim does but yeah I think it’s pretty ridiculous. I had to reel Merab back into it and say ‘listen, it doesn’t matter what he says. Obviously he’s not coaching his fighter very well anyway, you don’t want to listen to what he has to say.’ It’s one of those things where I try to stay out of it. I don’t want to be involved in it.”

While Wood had every confidence that Dvalishvili would go out and vanquish O’Malley in the fight, he knows all too well that MMA is an unpredictable sport where anything can happen.

It’s one of the reasons why he prefers to just put full focus on his fighter rather than spending much time trying to tear down an opponent because he knows that can come back to bite you hard — a lesson Welch may be learning right now.

“Tim had posted a couple of things or what not — this is why I don’t talk shit before fights,” Wood explained. “Because you don’t know what’s going to happen and then you look kind of like a jackass after you’ve said all these things, you’ve talked shit to a fighter and your fighters talked all this crap and then all of a sudden, you get your ass beat and then it’s kind of like how does it feel now and it doesn’t feel all that good.

“I’ve learned over the years make sure I keep my mouth closed and let the fighters do what they want to do.”

As far as Welch actually trying to shout instructions at an opposing fighter, Wood definitely doesn’t abide by that strategy even if it didn’t work.

In that same situation this past year, Sterling claimed he didn’t even hear Welch yelling at him during the fight so whatever tactics were being employed didn’t work. Still, Wood just doesn’t see the need for the coaches to get involved at that level, especially when it could come at the detriment of your own fighter.

“The tactics of coaching another fighter, yelling at a fighter, I don’t respect that or think that’s a good thing but more power to whoever does,” Wood said. “Tim is a good coach. He’s still coming up, learning doing his thing, and I wish the best of luck to him and I have no personal beef with him, but I will after the fact after my fighter whoops your fighter’s ass and tactically it’s this and it’s that. But there were thing said before, I don’t mind going back and saying ‘hey, how’d that turn out?’

“We are the guys behind the guys. We are there to support that guy and what they need. It’s not about us. I don’t need my name mentioned, brought up in any way shape or form. For the fight, if I get some kind of praise or whatever because of a performance, that’s great, I’ll take it but I’m not looking to put myself in those situations.”

Now that the job is done, Wood doesn’t see any need to carry on some kind of rivalry with Welch or O’Malley but don’t expect to hear him shouting instructions to any opposing fighter. Instead, Wood vows to let his fighters handle that themselves.

“It’s not something I’m going to get into a beef with him about,” Wood said. “But I’m confident enough in the fighter that we’re putting out into the fight that I don’t have to do any talking. They’re going to do the talking for me.”

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

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Welcome to the latest update to the MMA Fighting pound-for-pound rankings, where every month our esteemed panel sort through the noise to answer one question: Who are the best overall male and female MMA fighters in the world?

Let’s take a look at how things stand following a memorable UFC 306 at Sphere in Las Vegas, plus two notable exits from the rankings.

MEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND

ONE Championship

Jon Jones and Demetrious Johnson not ranked among the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world? Feels wrong.

But that’s the reality we’re living in, at least in the MMA Fighting Pound-for-Pound rankings, as both fighters fighters are ineligible to make the list as of September. Johnson’s exclusion should be no surprise given that the flyweight GOAT just announced his retirement, but Jones being out probably has a few of you scratching your heads, especially with his Stipe Miocic clash finally rescheduled for UFC 309 in November.

Like Michael Chandler—also finally set to return to action at UFC 309—a few months ago, Jones has crossed our 18-month threshold for inactivity and that means he can no longer be ranked. Yes, his next bout is supposedly just two months away, but as was the case with Chandler, until you actually step in the cage again, you’re not an active fighter.

Besides, we’re talking about Jon Jones here. If you think his next fight is guaranteed to happen, I’ll just say, “Hello, welcome to following MMA. Please enjoy learning about this wonderful world of ours.” So until Nov. 16 comes and goes, no Jones.

Jones and Johnson, two of the most decorated champions in UFC history, were No. 8 and No. 13, respectively in our previous Pound-for-Pound Rankings, and both rank even higher if we’re talking about the all-time list. Just don’t tell Dana White about any of this, OK?

In terms of actual movement, our biggest riser is unsurprisingly new bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili.

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Dvalishvili was dominant on Saturday night, outworking Sean O’Malley for five rounds to capture UFC gold, win his 11th straight fight, and jump from No. 20 all the way to No. 8 on our charts. If he books a fight with the undefeated Umar Nurmagomedov next, and passes that test, an even higher spot is waiting for him.

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 20 Merab Dvalishvili def. No. 12 Sean O’Malley

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 2 Alex Pereira vs. Khalil Rountree (UFC 307, Oct. 5), No. 4 Ilia Topuria vs. No. 9 (tied) Max Holloway (UFC 308, Nov. 16), No. 12 Patchy Mix vs. Leandro Higo (Bellator Paris, Nov. 16), No. 16 Charles Oliveira vs. Michael Chandler (UFC, 309, Nov. 16), No. 18 Aljamain Sterling vs. Movsar Evloev (UFC 307, Oct. 5)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Anatoly Malykhin (4), Khamzat Chimaev (1), Johnny Eblen (1), Movsar Evloev (1), Justin Gaethje (1), Kyoji Horiguchi (1), A.J. McKee (1), Usman Nurmagomedov (1), Robert Whittaker (1), Kamaru Usman (1)

Falling out of the rankings (previous ranking shown): No. 8 Jon Jones (inactivity), No. 13 Demetrious Johnson (retirement)

WOMEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

You can’t keep a good legend down.

Defying the notion that her championship days are behind her, Valentina Shevchenko reclaimed the flyweight title she held for almost five years with a one-sided wrestling clinic against rival Alexa Grasso. This was the third meeting between the two fighters and the series now stands at 1-1-1, but given that Shevchenko arguably did enough to win their second meeting, the trilogy bout appears to have brought an end to their story for now.

Shevchenko has a lively line of title challengers to go through, with the next expected to be Manon Fiorot (7-0 in the UFC), so there’s plenty of obstacles ahead if Shevchenko plans to close the gap between her and women’s MMA GOAT Amanda Nunes. Keep in mind, Nunes is retired, so unless she comes back, Shevchenko has all the time in the world to catch up.

For now, she’ll have to settle for being No. 1 with a “Bullet” again on our Pound-for-Pound list.

Speaking of potential title challengers, the other big mover this month was flyweight contender Natalia Silva. The 27-year-old won her sixth straight UFC fight by defeating former strawweight champion Jessica Andrade and goes from the “also receiving votes” section into the top 15.

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 3 Valentina Shevchenko def. No. 2 Alexa Grasso, Natalia Silva def. No. 14 Jessica Andrade

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 6 Larissa Pacheco vs. No. 7 Cris Cyborg (PFL Super Fights: Battle of the Giants, Oct. 19), No. 8 Erin Blanchfield vs. No. 10 Rose Namajunas (UFC Edmonton, Nov. 2), No. 9 Raquel Pennington vs. Julianna Peña (UFC 307, Oct. 5), No. 12 Kayla Harrison vs. Ketlen Vieira (UFC 307, Oct. 5), No. 13 Seika Izawa vs. Kanna Asakura (RIZIN 48, Sept. 29)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Maycee Barber (4), Amanda Lemos (4), Irene Aldana (1), Dakota Ditcheva (1), Norma Dumont (1), Marina Rodriguez (1), Mayra Bueno Silva (1), Ketlen Vieira (1)

Falling out of the rankings (previous ranking shown): No. 20 Amanda Lemos

Lastly, a refresher on some ground rules:

• The six-person voting panel consists of MMA Fighting staffers Alexander K. Lee, Guilherme Cruz, Mike Heck, E. Casey Leydon, Damon Martin and Jed Meshew.
• Updates to the rankings will be completed following every UFC pay-per-view. Fighters will be removed from the rankings if they do not compete within 18 months of their most recent bout.
• Should a fighter announce their retirement, our panel will decide whether that fighter should immediately be removed from the rankings or maintain their position until further notice (let’s put it this way: we’d have taken Khabib Nurmagomedov out of our rankings a lot quicker than the UFC did).

As a reminder, the notion of pound-for-pound supremacy is always going to inherently be subjective. When you’re debating whether someone like Sean Strickland should be ranked above someone like Charles Oliveira, there is no true right answer. In other words: It’s not serious business, folks.

Thoughts? Questions? Concerns? Make your voice heard in the comments below.

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Matchmaking
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Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Sean O’Malley may have “reversed his loss” at UFC 306 to a win, but in reality he relinquished his UFC bantamweight title to Merab Dvalishvili on the greatest stage in combat sports.

That is a hard pill to swallow, especially for one of the biggest stars in the sport today. After all, O’Malley was fresh off a massive knockout win over Aljamain Sterling to claim the 135-pound title one year ago before defending it against Marlon Vera this past March. “Suga” was riding high and another milestone away from reaching Conor McGregor.

Unfortunately, O’Malley couldn’t stop Merab at Noche UFC and ended up losing his title from inside the Sphere. It was a large step back for the UFC superstar and a loss that could sideline O’Malley for well over a year. That’s according to the former champ himself.

“I probably won’t fight for 9 months, 10 months. Maybe a year. It’s gonna be a while,” said O’Malley via his YouTube channel.

“People are gonna have to watch the UFC without the Suga Show for a little bit.”

Insomnia

Do we really believe Jon Jones will retire after UFC 309?

“Poatan” fight mode enabled!

Is this the next matchup to make?

A fan almost died at UFC 306 this past weekend…

Is there anything Diego Lopes can’t do?

Mike Tyson was not playing around with Jake Paul at this weekend’s Dallas Cowboys game.

Dana White loves to troll (especially about Jon Jones).

Good enough poster for UFC 307 or no?

This is a pretty solid edition to the Paul vs. Tyson boxing card this November.

Should UFC book Alexander Volkanovski vs. Diego Lopes for end of year?

This new Venum ad is pretty sweet.

Not sure if there’s enough makeup in the world to cover this cut. Yikes!

Who were the best ring girls from this weekend’s Noche UFC card?

Sean O’Malley is already working on his takedown defense after losing his title at UFC 306.

Here’s Conor McGregor doing his best to promote a new broadcast deal between BKFC and DAZN.

30 cups, one guy.

Love him or hate him, this is a pretty funny prank by Jake Paul.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Running this back from Saturday in case you missed it.

This anime-edit of the same Canelo knockdown is sick.

This faceplant knockout from BKFC 66 was absolutely bonkers!

Random Land

Watch out below!

Sleep well Maniacs! We’ll be back for more tomorrow night.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Alex Pereira wants that Dricus du Plessis fight, he’s just not sure if the UFC middleweight champion feels the same way.

“Poatan,” who is set to defend his light heavyweight title against Khalil Rountree in the main event of UFC 307 in Salt Lake City on Oct. 5, has recently teased the possibility that he would drop back down to middleweight, the division in which he won his first UFC title in 2022. Specifically, he put out the possibility of a fight with du Plessis following du Plessis’ win over Israel Adesanya at UFC 305.

Any substantial matchup negotiations between the two are unlikely to come to fruition for months, but Pereira insists that they can start talking about it now if du Plessis is open to it.

“Dricus definitely is an easier fight than fighting Jon Jones,” Pereira told FULL SEND MMA via a Portuguese translator. “I think making weight will be harder than the fight, but I did stop making that weight class because I said my body needed a break two or three fights without having to make that cut.

“Now I think I’ve rested long enough, I think I can definitely do that and make the fight happen, but it depends on him. I showed interest many times, but he never replies.”

It’s not just du Plessis’ alleged reluctance to fight that has Pereira miffed. The Brazilian knockout artist questions whether du Plessis is serious about booking a fight against a top contender next, whether it’s himself or a rematch with Sean Strickland.

“The way that he presents himself is always jokes when he responds,” Pereira said. “Like, he said the stuff to Strickland, for example. He’s never serious. He’s always trolling somehow when the subject is presented to him.

“He never takes it serious, so it shows that he’s scared, you know what I mean? Instead of him just saying, ‘Look, UFC. Let’s make me and Pereira fight.’ Clown.”

Once du Plessis caught wind of Pereira’s comments, he was quick to respond on social media.

“A scared clown, how dare you,” du Plessis wrote. “Now that’s taking it too far. I’ve already said I’m in to fight either you or [Strickland]. What more do you want or should I tag your translator?”

Pereira won the UFC middleweight title in just his eighth MMA fight following a decorated pro kickboxing career that included two wins over Adesanya. He knocked out Adesanya at UFC 281 to claim the title before dropping it to his longtime rival in a rematch five months later. He later became light heavyweight champion with a knockout of Jiri Prochazka and his reputation as a multi-division threat has him set up to potentially fight du Plessis or heavyweight champion Jon Jones.

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