Sean O'Malley returns to the Octagon to defend his bantamweight championship against Merab Dvalishvili.
O'Malley has won six of his last seven fights, with the other being ruled a no-contest after an accidental eye poke. Dvalishvili earned a title match after winning 10 straight fights, nine of those wins coming by unanimous decision.
Valentina Shevchenko will fight women’s flyweight champion Alexa Grasso in the co-main event. It will be the third fight between the two fighters.
Shevchenko lost the title to Grasso in the first fight by submission at UFC 285 in March 2023. Grasso and Shevchenko’s second fight ended in a split-decision draw.
The flyweight is about to begin.
Rosas was declared the winner by unanimous decision. He's now won three fights in a row and becomes the first fighter to win at the Sphere.
The early prelims and prelims will be broadcast on TV on ESPN, with a live stream available via ESPN+. The pay-per-view main event can be purchased and streamed through ESPN+.
The UFC 305 pay-per-view can be purchased through ESPN+ (which requires a subscription) for $79.99.
All odds are for moneyline bets (as of Friday), according to BetMGM.
The event will be held at the Sphere in Las Vegas. The Sphere is a new venue that opened on September 29, 2023, and could be found East of the Las Vegas strip. The arena held concerts and entertainment but will welcome UFC as its first live sporting event. The Sphere could have the capacity to seat at least 18,600 people.
| Sean O'Malley | vs. | Merab Dvalishvili |
| 18-1-0 (1 no contest) | Record | 17-4-0 |
| USA | Country | Georgia |
| 5-foot-9 | Height | 5-foot-5 |
| 135 pounds | Weight | 135 pounds |
| 72 inches | Reach | 68 inches |
| 40 inches | Leg reach | 38 inches |
Sean Zerillo writes "I projected the fight to end inside the distance 54% of the time (-117 implied odds) compared to consensus odds nearer to -115. O'Malley is a threat to close the show anytime during the fight. Still, I feel Merab's finishing chances – either via injury (with O'Malley's historical ankle/foot issue) or cardio-based stoppage in the championship rounds are being undersold."
Jesse Holland writes: "The challenger has the conditioning to spam takedowns for all five rounds and I’m not sure O’Malley — taken down six times by Petr Yan at UFC 280 — has the defense to stop him. I just don’t feel comfortable picking the champion on the slim chance he can land the kill shot before getting double-legged into oblivion."
Dan Tom writes "I have a feeling that my initial lean toward an O’Malley knockout is the correct call, but I also believe that Davlishvili could be one of the toughest stylistic matchups for the champ outside of Umar Nurmagomedov. For that reason, I’ll semi-reluctantly side with the arguably more durable fighter in Davlishvili to survive the early storm and pull away down the stretch (possibly earning a late finish if O’Malley’s body fails to hold together)."
We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. USA TODAY Network newsrooms operate independently, and this doesn’t influence our coverage.
2024-12-25 22:291278 view
2024-12-25 22:121405 view
2024-12-25 21:43477 view
2024-12-25 20:49451 view
2024-12-25 20:391022 view
2024-12-25 20:281744 view
Travis Kelce is screaming long live over all the magic Taylor Swiftmade on the Eras Tour. After the
Yes, it gets better as everyone from Portia de Rossi to Laverne Cox and Neil Patrick Harris has proc
More than $200 billion in federal aid to small businesses during the pandemic may have been given to
