🥊 The UFC Info and Prediction Thread

[pawel7777]

I haven't seen the whole event and only woke up to see the results and the main event's highlights.
I have to say, I did not expect Merab to be this dominating, I honestly thought Sean was the favourite, but he just didn't deliver with his striking.
See the stats in the fight card, O/Malley only landed 49 strikes, while Merab 214, that's over 4 times more. I expected to see the opposite.



This is bad for the UFC, as O'Malley was very marketable, but he lost in such a fashion that he doesn't really deserve a rematch or another title shot anytime soon.
He had a lot of options, including a potential super-fight with Topuria (if he was to defeat Holloway) but this is probably off the table right now.
I sense we might see him fighting Sandhagen next, but maybe moving up to the featherweight is not a bad idea.

[tokeweed]

^  What did everybody expect?  Dvalishvili is a cardio machine with a cast iron chin, volume, and with relentless TD attempts...

Wtf Sandhagen?  He just lost to Umar Nurmagomedov.  Nurmagomedov is next for sure.  That'll be a great match imho.  

So the UFC 306 has ended. Before we start discussing the fights more detailed, look on the performance in general. Only 1 tko and 1 submission in whole event. Some posts above it was said that it is business vs business between ufc and boxing. So how and average event viewer would evaluate this event, if there would be almost no finishes? For me: I have seen good and excellent fights yesterday. Average Joe probably got unsatisfied, especially with such ticket cost.

Not sure how it did vs Canelo's event if we're talking about money but I'm damn pretty sure that UFC 306 turned out to be a waaay better event than Canelo's event.  Lol.  Like way waaay better.  I hope we see the UFC go back to the Sphere for some of its bigger events.

At first I was kinda disappointed as it kinds sucked.  You could see the beams in the arena, the lights were too bright and where was the visuals?  But then the main card started...  Everybody was blown away.  It was sooo good.

And yeah, some of the matches ended up via decision but man, some of them were great fights...  Ribovics vs Zellhuber FOTN imho.

UFC 306:  Match Results

Merab Dvalishvili def Sean O'Malley  UD
Valentina Shevchenko def Alexa Grasso  UD
Diego Lopes def Brian Ortega  UD
Esteban Ribovics def Daniel Zellhuber  SD
Ronaldo Rodríguez def Ode Osbourne  UD
Norma Dumont def Irene Aldana   Decision  UD
Ignacio Bahamondes def Manuel Torres  TKO R1
Ketlen Souza def Yazmin Jauregui  SUB R1
Joshua Van def Edgar Chairez  UD
Raul Rosas Jr. def Aori Qileng  UD

UFC 306:  Post Fight Press Conference
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDNl6M0WeVQ

^  Will watch that later...

Edit:  Typos

[pawel7777]

^  What did everybody expect?  Dvalishvili is a cardio machine with a cast iron chin, volume, and with relentless TD attempts...

More volume form O'Malley, lots of combos, nicely timed counters, utilising reach advantage. I dunno.

Wtf Sandhagen?  He just lost to Umar Nurmagomedov.  Nurmagomedov is next for sure.  That'll be a great match imho.  

I was talking about the next opponent for O'Malley, not for Dvalishvili.
Nurmagomedov is probably next for the title shot, but UFC will be desperate for Sean's rebound from a loss to keep his hype going, and Sandhagen looks like a good option.

[cabron]

So the UFC 306 has ended. Before we start discussing the fights more detailed, look on the performance in general. Only 1 tko and 1 submission in whole event. Some posts above it was said that it is business vs business between ufc and boxing. So how and average event viewer would evaluate this event, if there would be almost no finishes? For me: I have seen good and excellent fights yesterday. Average Joe probably got unsatisfied, especially with such ticket cost.

It's the average cabrons that are there watching though. But yes this is not a very satisfying event, I was expecting fighters to show their best, and I see Omalley is not finding ways to throw combos. He wants to stay in the middle when he should be chasing Merab. And when Merab catches him, he sits there receiving all the knees lol The whole main cards are won by decision.

We can see in the 5th round, Merab looks up the the clock and just killing time. He knows he is winning.

[LogitechMouse]

So the UFC 306 has ended. Before we start discussing the fights more detailed, look on the performance in general. Only 1 tko and 1 submission in whole event. Some posts above it was said that it is business vs business between ufc and boxing. So how and average event viewer would evaluate this event, if there would be almost no finishes? For me: I have seen good and excellent fights yesterday. Average Joe probably got unsatisfied, especially with such ticket cost.

It's the average cabrons that are there watching though. But yes this is not a very satisfying event, I was expecting fighters to show their best, and I see Omalley is not finding ways to throw combos. He wants to stay in the middle when he should be chasing Merab. And when Merab catches him, he sits there receiving all the knees lol The whole main cards are won by decision.

We can see in the 5th round, Merab looks up the the clock and just killing time. He knows he is winning.

I've watched the whole fight, but I'm not that good at analyzing. Anyway, from what I've seen, O'Malley doesn't want those takedowns that's why he's hesitating to throw some punches and chooses to defend himself. It's my first time to see Merab fighting, and what I say is that, he's moving like crazy the whole fight. That confuses his opponent and in this case, it's O'Malley. We know that takedown = points and Merab if I'm not mistaken took him down more than 5 times the whole fight.

The co-main event is where I felt sleepy TBH. Take down in the first minute of the fight then that will be the case the whole round. The whole venue is just cool to see especially those holograms out there, but the whole line-up? Hmmm.

[notblox1]

I love when underdogs win the fights, and Dvalishvili deserved to win this time and bring the belt home in Georgia.
Dvalishvili is having a great run, wining last four fights and I expect to se rematch against OMalley soon.
I think UFC and Dana White dont like this outcome very much

[Hirose UK]

Sean O'Malley got lot of pressure from Merab Dvalishvili with quite few takedown attempts from each round, almost all of which Dvalishvili kept cornering O'Malley to fight on the canvas and that was Dvalishvili advantage that could make him get more points.
Indeed, O'Malley had some points from the punches and kicks he gave to Dvalishvili but in this fight even though Dvalishvili was seen getting some punches and kicks he still showed that he has strong body and doesn't seem to be tired.
If O'Malley didn't get some takedowns and could keep his distance maybe the advantage would still be obtained by O'Malley and we could see him defend his title again, it just that it turns out that Dvalishvili is not weak fighter and he really showed how to fight using intelligence.
I made O'Malley the favorite but he failed, hopefully Dana will give rematch to both of them later and fight for the title again.

[TopTort777]

And yeah, some of the matches ended up via decision but man, some of they were great fights...  Ribovics vs Zellhuber FOTN imho.

It is you, me and the rest of the topic members understand that fights were great. But for an average Joe, if a fighter wasnt knocked out, then the fight is bad and boring I find it strange to see that nobody started a discussion about Dvalishvili kissing O'Malley back And that Dvalishvili warning on the first seconds of the fight. Anyway, I can say that I like the event and venue. First I had doubt about the card, in general everything went well. New record for number of wins in bantamweight by Dvalishvili, and Lopes continues his way to title belt.

[shield132]

I haven't seen the whole event and only woke up to see the results and the main event's highlights.
I have to say, I did not expect Merab to be this dominating, I honestly thought Sean was the favourite, but he just didn't deliver with his striking.
See the stats in the fight card, O/Malley only landed 49 strikes, while Merab 214, that's over 4 times more. I expected to see the opposite.

Everyone was expecting that he would lose against Petr Yan, against Henry Cejudo but he won. Then everyone was expecting that Sean O'Malley would eat Merab but Merab made him look normal, as he said himself. I don't watch UFC but I watched some of Sean O'Malley's fights and he is a really great fighter but in front of Merab, he was nothing. In front of Merab, Yan was absolutely nothing and neither was Cejudo. Everyone is nothing in front of Merab Dvalishvili and Ilia Topuria, that's the power of Georgians.

A friend of mine is Merab's "brother", he trains since his childhood, Merab trains him and soon we will see a new Georgian fighter on UFC Octagon.

[tokeweed]

^  What did everybody expect?  Dvalishvili is a cardio machine with a cast iron chin, volume, and with relentless TD attempts...

More volume form O'Malley, lots of combos, nicely timed counters, utilising reach advantage. I dunno.

Wtf Sandhagen?  He just lost to Umar Nurmagomedov.  Nurmagomedov is next for sure.  That'll be a great match imho.  

I was talking about the next opponent for O'Malley, not for Dvalishvili.
Nurmagomedov is probably next for the title shot, but UFC will be desperate for Sean's rebound from a loss to keep his hype going, and Sandhagen looks like a good option.

Ah...  Yeah, good call on that match up.  But sad to say to O'Malley supporters that Sandhagen is pretty good, with unlimited cardio, high volume and has never been KO'd in a match.  I really hope he comes in as the underdog if matched up vs O'Malley.

And he went toe to toe against Umar Nurmagomedov and went the distance in a 5 rounder.  I don't think O'Malley could last 5 rounds against the tough Dagestanian bro tbh.

The co-main event is where I felt sleepy TBH.

Bet more. 

[cabron]

Sandagen vs Omalley most probably and then Omalley to rematch Merab for the belt once again. This is very possible unless Dana is going to allow Umar vs Merab first, it will kill the Omalley hype as Omalley is demoralized after Merab just toying him in the cage.

They were already talking about it. https://x.com/aaronbronsteter/status/1835201267892629857
Umar Nurmagomedov -200
Merab Dvalishvili +170

The co-main event is where I felt sleepy TBH.

Bet more. 

Grasso vs Shev should have been over in the first round if Shev just got a little more time for rarenaked choke. 

[TopTort777]

I already feel like if Umar Nurmagomedov fight Merab, the fight will take place in UAE. Have you also noticed, that Khabib and all his team fight only or mostly in UAE ? Same goes with Chimaev also. How would you describe such coincidence? In some Russian combat related forums, people joke about Nurmagomedov clan fight only in UEA because sheikhs helps them to cheat with medicine.

[tokeweed]

Sandagen vs Omalley most probably and then Omalley to rematch Merab for the belt once again. This is very possible unless Dana is going to allow Umar vs Merab first, it will kill the Omalley hype as Omalley is demoralized after Merab just toying him in the cage.

They were already talking about it. https://x.com/aaronbronsteter/status/1835201267892629857
Umar Nurmagomedov -200
Merab Dvalishvili +170

The co-main event is where I felt sleepy TBH.

Bet more. 

Grasso vs Shev should have been over in the first round if Shev just got a little more time for rarenaked choke. 

It's gonna be Umar Nurmagomedov next for Merab for sure.  But if you guys noticed at Merab's post fight interview he was kinda hesitant to say anything...  What he said was he wants to talk to Dana White and the match makers.  What that means is he wants to get paid more money to fight the tough Dagestanian bro.  I mean he should get paid more.  And I hope the UFC doesn't make it hard for Merab.  I wanna see that match up. 

As for O'Malley, the ideal match up is to go for Sandhagen next and win specatcularly via KO to get the next title shot against whoever wins between Nurmagomedov and Dvalshvili.  But man if it's Nurmy, 135 is done for while.  He'll be champ for a looong time.

[cabron]

Sandagen vs Omalley most probably and then Omalley to rematch Merab for the belt once again. This is very possible unless Dana is going to allow Umar vs Merab first, it will kill the Omalley hype as Omalley is demoralized after Merab just toying him in the cage.

They were already talking about it. https://x.com/aaronbronsteter/status/1835201267892629857
Umar Nurmagomedov -200
Merab Dvalishvili +170

The co-main event is where I felt sleepy TBH.

Bet more. 

Grasso vs Shev should have been over in the first round if Shev just got a little more time for rarenaked choke. 

It's gonna be Umar Nurmagomedov next for Merab for sure.  But if you guys noticed at Merab's post fight interview he was kinda hesitant to say anything...  What he said was he wants to talk to Dana White and the match makers.  What that means is he wants to get paid more money to fight the tough Dagestanian bro.  I mean he should get paid more.  And I hope the UFC doesn't make it hard for Merab.  I wanna see that match up. 

As for O'Malley, the ideal match up is to go for Sandhagen next and win specatcularly via KO to get the next title shot against whoever wins between Nurmagomedov and Dvalshvili.  But man if it's Nurmy, 135 is done for while.  He'll be champ for a looong time.

He did call Nurmagomedov before so he knows it's going to come one day as their rank is never too far. That was back when he wasn't a champ yet but this time I guess he is weighing his reign being a champ is going to be cut short and he may at least ask a big pay especially since he is not on good terms with Dana.

This is what I found recently on twitter
Not surprising anymore but Dom Reyes is back.

[pawel7777]

A friend of mine is Merab's "brother", he trains since his childhood, Merab trains him and soon we will see a new Georgian fighter on UFC Octagon.

What's the guy's name?
If he's really good, we might start betting on him while he's still unknown 

(...) But sad to say to O'Malley supporters that Sandhagen is pretty good, with unlimited cardio, high volume and has never been KO'd in a match.  I really hope he comes in as the underdog if matched up vs O'Malley.
(...)

Will you be betting on Sandhagen if such a fight happens and he's an underdog? I probably wouldn't unless the odds are really good (which would be unlikely as O'Maley is coming off of a loss). Cory might have never been KO'd, but he's a striker, so should be quite convenient for Sean.
That being said, I'm checking the physical attributes for both and, according to Wikipedia, they are both of the same height (I thought Sean was taller) and Sean has only 6cm reach advantage, which is not significant. So who knows, maybe Sandhagen would be a good bet.

[OgNasty]

I’m glad to see that Suga isn’t making any excuses about his loss to Merab. He said it was a great camp and a great weight cut. He just was beaten. I honestly didn’t expect that from Suga, but it’s nice to see him being humble in defeat. I’m not sure how much success he’ll have going forward, but he had a great run for his skill level.

[LogitechMouse]

I’m glad to see that Suga isn’t making any excuses about his loss to Merab. He said it was a great camp and a great weight cut. He just was beaten. I honestly didn’t expect that from Suga, but it’s nice to see him being humble in defeat. I’m not sure how much success he’ll have going forward, but he had a great run for his skill level.

I don't see any reason for O'Malley not being humble on this one because he's just got outclassed, outboxed, and the fight was one-sided since the first round. Takedowns favoring Merab, total strikes favoring Merab since the first round. I expect him to bounce back after this loss, but it was a good fight overall.

This is what I found recently on twitter
Not surprising anymore but Dom Reyes is back.

This fight will be anticipated that's for sure.
The main event and the co-main event is a big time. A rematch between Oliveira and Chandler and in their first meeting, Oliveira defeated him in the 2nd round. With McGregor out due to an injury that caused the fight with Chandler to be postponed, he wants to fight another one and it's good to see him fighting.

The co-main event is where I felt sleepy TBH.

Bet more. 

Grasso vs Shev should have been over in the first round if Shev just got a little more time for rarenaked choke. 

Saw that one as well while I'm watching it, and definitely it was over if that choke happened when there's a minute left on the clock. I'll try to bet more in the upcoming UFC fights that's for sure, but the fight is just boring especially with lots of takedowns. It's only me though and for sure those avid UFC fans out there find it entertaining still.

[TopTort777]

A friend of mine is Merab's "brother", he trains since his childhood, Merab trains him and soon we will see a new Georgian fighter on UFC Octagon.

What's the guy's name?
If he's really good, we might start betting on him while he's still unknown  

And blame shield132 if our bet looses

Anyway, first video name I saw when I have opened YouTube is "Sean O'Malley is taking 1 year pause". It was said, that he wants to take a rest (that is expected), and he wants his next opponent to be a striker, so he is skipping some dudes and wants to fight Sandhagen (wait, does it means that Sandhagen got a new opponent already? Last time he fought was August 3). Also O'Malley told that he earn 3 times more from his social media activity, than he gets from UFC (it was said that O'Malley earned 2.5-3kk from this fight).

P.S. Still nobody here gave any reaction to Merab kissing Sean

[tokeweed]

Sandagen vs Omalley most probably and then Omalley to rematch Merab for the belt once again. This is very possible unless Dana is going to allow Umar vs Merab first, it will kill the Omalley hype as Omalley is demoralized after Merab just toying him in the cage.

They were already talking about it. https://x.com/aaronbronsteter/status/1835201267892629857
Umar Nurmagomedov -200
Merab Dvalishvili +170

The co-main event is where I felt sleepy TBH.

Bet more.  

Grasso vs Shev should have been over in the first round if Shev just got a little more time for rarenaked choke.  

It's gonna be Umar Nurmagomedov next for Merab for sure.  But if you guys noticed at Merab's post fight interview he was kinda hesitant to say anything...  What he said was he wants to talk to Dana White and the match makers.  What that means is he wants to get paid more money to fight the tough Dagestanian bro.  I mean he should get paid more.  And I hope the UFC doesn't make it hard for Merab.  I wanna see that match up.  

As for O'Malley, the ideal match up is to go for Sandhagen next and win specatcularly via KO to get the next title shot against whoever wins between Nurmagomedov and Dvalshvili.  But man if it's Nurmy, 135 is done for while.  He'll be champ for a looong time.

He did call Nurmagomedov before so he knows it's going to come one day as their rank is never too far. That was back when he wasn't a champ yet but this time I guess he is weighing his reign being a champ is going to be cut short and he may at least ask a big pay especially since he is not on good terms with Dana.

This is what I found recently on twitter
Not surprising anymore but Dom Reyes is back.

Who called out Umar Nurmagomedov?  Merab?  Lolol.  I don't think so.  No UFC fighter is stupid enough to call out the toughest dude in the division without renegotiating his contract.  

I’m glad to see that Suga isn’t making any excuses about his loss to Merab. He said it was a great camp and a great weight cut. He just was beaten. I honestly didn’t expect that from Suga, but it’s nice to see him being humble in defeat. I’m not sure how much success he’ll have going forward, but he had a great run for his skill level.

Yup...  But really, what excuse could he make?  The one with Marlon Vera was a valid one imho as O'Malley wasn't really beaten.  It was a fluke and we saw that in the rematch.

Anyway, it looks like we'll have another weekend without the UFC.  But the next one is decent.  Anybody else think Moicano is live at 3.10?  Saint Denis is low key chinny.  And Moicano has the grappling advantage and isn't that bad at striking himself.

[pawel7777]

(...)
And blame shield132 if our bet looses

Obviously! You can't expect me to take responsibility for my own actions 

Anyway, first video name I saw when I have opened YouTube is "Sean O'Malley is taking 1 year pause". It was said, that he wants to take a rest (that is expected) (...)

Apparently he has some hip surgery scheduled for October and it will take a while for him to fully recover from that. He could've used that as an excuse for worse-than-expected performance, but he refuses to do so and just says the better guy has won. I respect him for that.

P.S. Still nobody here gave any reaction to Merab kissing Sean

That was a hilarious situation, first the kissing, then just casually walking away before the round even ended. I think he got confused with the referee telling him to "stop that". Short clip of the situation:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/aDKqx97Yxdo