While the UFC 306 headliner was largely a clear-cut victory for Merab Dvalishvili, the bout also included a couple of unusual moments.
The first occurred early in Round 1, when referee Herb Dean halted the bout to warn both Dvalishvili and Tim Welch for their interactions during the fight. According to Dvalishvili, Sean O’Malley’s coach was trying to distract him from his cageside position.
“I’m a professional fighter,” Dvalishvili said at the post-fight press conference. “I’m focused and it never happens to me. I never pay attention to other corner. But Tim’s voice was very familiar because he was doing the same thing to [Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292]. There’s the clip on social media everybody saw that. He was doing the same thing. He was doing already, disrespectful, ‘Merab, you’ve got to go.’
“He was talking s—t to me. I told him, ‘Stop it.’ Nobody was telling him to stop. He just kept doing this. If you do the same thing in basketball or soccer, they will do disqualification for you. But I guess here, not. I told referee, ‘I’m sorry.’ … I said I’m sorry and after I guess he stopped it.”
The second incident occurred toward the end of Round 2, when Dvalishvili kissed O’Malley’s neck while attempting a rear-naked choke. That nearly resulted in disaster when the Georgian released his opponent before the horn, and O’Malley took the opportunity to fire back with punches in the waning seconds of the round. For Dvalishvili, it was all in good fun.
“I grabbed his neck and he had 10 seconds left. I know he can wait and he’s not going to sleep or tap [to] this. I want to make just little fun of him,” Dvalishvili said. “I don’t hate the guy, just make fun of him. But at same time, give him a little kiss – to show them that I’m dominating. I controlled this fight, break you. That’s why I was kissing him. I had too much fun there and I guess I looked at time control. But when I let go, he followed me and punched me in the back of my head. I started to protect myself again. I said [to the] referee again, ‘Referee, I’m sorry.’”
The fun continued for Dvalishvili for most of the bout, as he wasn’t truly threatened until O’Malley hurt him with a front kick to the body in the final stanza. However, it was a case of too little, too late, as “The Machine” cruised to a unanimous decision to capture the bantamweight belt.
“The first emotion was crazy I couldn’t control myself,” Dvalishvili said. “When Dana White wrapped the belt around me and then when I got up, I realized Dana was already left. I wanted to shake his hand and feel it. Now, I realize. Now, I realize. It feels great. I beat other guys, three former champions. Sean is four. It’s a normal day – a normal day, but I have a belt today. That’s it.”
Dvalishvili didn’t get much time to bask in the glow of his victory, however. With top contender Umar Nurmagomedov in attendance, Dvalishvili was forced to address the possibility of facing the Dagestani in his first title defense.
“Umar, he’s OK,” Dvalishvili said. “But I’m telling you guys, from the top 15, he only won one fight, and that was Cory Sandhagen, and we all saw what Aljamain Sterling did against Cory Sandhagen. Made him sleep in the first round.”
