The first time Merab Dvalishvili faced Sean O’Malley, the primary goal was to walk away with bantamweight gold.
While he admittedly played it a little more safe in what was nonetheless a dominant unanimous decision triumph at UFC 306, “The Machine” decided to get a little more aggressive in their rematch. The end result was a third-round submission victory in the UFC 316 headliner on Saturday at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
“First time, I said, this one I was fighting for the belt. I wanted to win this. I know I was winning, and I don’t risk it too much,” Dvalishvili said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference.