New champions at UFC 306: For superstars O’Malley and Grasso, title fights become a nightmare

New champions at UFC 306
Superstar O’Malley experienced a humiliating nightmare in the title fight

15.09.2024, 09:06

The iconic dome-shaped arena The Sphere offers a dreamlike backdrop for UFC 306. For champions Alexa Grasso and Sean O’Malley, however, the fights for their titles are turning into a nightmare.

With the UFC 306 martial arts event, the largest MMA organization in the world will set new, unique standards in sports broadcasting in the brand new and yet already iconic arena The Sphere. Coupled with two title changes, the event will indeed be remembered by many.

The production in The Sphere was bombastic. The dome-shaped arena, which, unlike a wraparound cinema, can give the projected images a depth, exuded the charm of a Roman atrium that seemed to be placed in a different setting from one second to the next. Coupled with the historical scenes from Mexican history, the setting was set for memorable fights.

What was so dreamy in every presentation and every entrance of the fighter turned into a nightmare for two champions that evening. The main event of superstar and bantamweight champion Sean Malley turned out to be the most unsuitable opponent for the striker, challenger Merab Dvalishvili.

Merab as a nightmare for O’Malley

O’Malley started very concentrated against a Dvalishvili who was very agile and kept trying to shorten the range. The champion worked with body shots, Dvalishvili with leg kicks. The challenger secured the round with a takedown after he had pushed O’Malley back to the cage fence. From then on, the Georgian was in control, the champion knew how to defend himself. In the second round, Dvalishvili managed another takedown after diving under a wild overhand from the 29-year-old. Punches, knee strikes and elbows followed against a champion who was obviously having problems. In a head-and-arm choke, the Georgian kissed O’Malley on the head – absolute humiliation. A few seconds before the end, Dvalishvili let go and caught another hard hand from the title holder.

In the third round, O’Malley tried not to run into another takedown. He succeeded, but the challenger simply had a higher frequency of punches and hits. One hit from the champion was followed by two or three from Dvalishvili. In the fourth round, the Georgian managed the takedown again and O’Malley seemed ineffective on the ground. Here Dvalishvili gained control time, landed smaller hits and remained active. Much too late in the final round, O’Malley landed his most effective hit with a front kick. The Georgian turned away, contorted in pain, but the champion could not follow up. Ultimately, Dvalishvili snatched the title after a dominant performance, even if the judges thought it was a close duel.

Shevchenko regains title

The “home game” at “Noche UFC” in Las Vegas was to be a painful experience for Mexican Alexa Grasso. Challenger Valentina Shevchenko had chosen the better game plan in the title fight for the women’s flyweight belt. In the first round, the champion initially relied on her striking, but stormed into a takedown by Shevchenko early on. The former title holder was in her element there, even if Grasso knew how to take as few hits as possible. However, she was hardly able to land any hits of her own.

The same thing happened in rounds two and three: Shevchenko managed another takedown and worked her way into better and better positions, throwing small punches. Grasso tried to throw the Kazakh woman off her game with submission holds. She succeeded, although the Mexican did not achieve the final victory.

The fourth round did not go according to plan for the champion either. The challenger again managed a takedown. This time, however, Grasso applied a guillotine submission hold, which was initially tight, but eventually Shevchenko slipped out and applied a submission hold of his own. Although he was unable to get Grasso to tap out, he ended the round in a dominant manner. In the last round, Grasso did not have the means to counter Shevchenko’s ground game. The judges awarded points to the former and now new champion Valentina Shevchenko.

Lopes’ striking too much for Ortega

A new challenger for the featherweight title should emerge between Brian Ortega and Diego Lopes, provided they perform well. Ortega got off to a catastrophic start and quickly found himself on the ground after a few heavy hits. This is actually an area in which the American is particularly strong, but Lopes did him no favors and went along with it.

The Brazilian, who lives in Mexico, was also the dominant fighter in the second round. He once again staggered Ortega with a one-two combination. This was followed by a powerful kick to the head, which Ortega took surprisingly well. Later, Lopes sent him to the ground with a leg kick. Here, too, the 29-year-old did not give in, knowing that he would probably have worse chances on the ground.

With two rounds won, Lopes took it easy in the third round. He took more hits, but Ortega never managed to get the Brazilian to the ground. A few seconds before the end, Lopes knocked his opponents to the ground again with a left hook and this time followed up. However, Ortega saved himself until the time limit was reached, so the judge had to make a decision. A simple decision: Lopes won clearly on points and should have put himself in a good position to fight for the title next.