B/R MMA Power Rankings After UFC 306

Saturday’s UFC 306 card at Sphere in Las Vegas wasn’t just the most lavishly produced event the promotion has ever put on, it also changed the MMA landscape,…

Saturday’s UFC 306 card at Sphere in Las Vegas wasn’t just the most lavishly produced event the promotion has ever put on, it also changed the MMA landscape,…

UFC Rankings Report: Dvalishvili Lands Above Aspinall In P4P Top 10, Muhammad Jumps Du Plessis

As always, the latest action on offer inside the Octagon has seen some climb the ladder toward contention and others fall away. And in the aftermath of UFC 306 (Noche UFC), MMA News has you covered with this week’s updates to the official UFC rankings. Men’s Pound-For-Pound: Merab Dvalishvili closed out Saturday’s event with his long-awaited championship […]

Continue Reading UFC Rankings Report: Dvalishvili Lands Above Aspinall In P4P Top 10, Muhammad Jumps Du Plessis at MMA News.

As always, the latest action on offer inside the Octagon has seen some climb the ladder toward contention and others fall away.

And in the aftermath of UFC 306 (Noche UFC), MMA News has you covered with this week’s updates to the official UFC rankings.

Men’s Pound-For-Pound: Merab Dvalishvili closed out Saturday’s event with his long-awaited championship crowning. As a result, the bantamweight kingpin has debuted on the P4P list at #7, one position above interim heavyweight titleholder Tom Aspinall. Further up, welterweight champ Belal Muhammad (#5) has jumped his middleweight counterpart Dricus Du Plessis (#6).

The defeated O’Malley, meanwhile, has slid seven positions to #13. Dvalishvili’s friend and teammate Aljamain Sterling is out of the top 15 entirely following the Georgian’s arrival.

Women’s Pound-for-Pound: Valentina Shevchenko is once again the flyweight queen, and she’s also back on the P4P mountaintop. “Bullet” has climbed two places back to top spot, while previous #1 Alexa Grasso has fallen to #3 following her lopsided loss to Shevchenko in their trilogy.

Women’s Strawweight: No changes.

Women’s Flyweight: The sole change at 125 pounds has seen Grasso slip back to top contender status, swapping positions with now-champ Shevchenko.

Women’s Bantamweight: Norma Dumont secured the biggest win of her career in the Noche UFC featured prelim, outpointing a badly damaged Irene Aldana. The result has seen the Brazilian ascend by three positions to #5 at 135 pounds. The defeated Mexican, on the other hand, is down just one spot to #6.

Flyweight: In the male 125-pound weight class, Asu Almabayev has moved up one place to share #14 with the recently retired Matt Schnell.

Bantamweight: Like in the women’s flyweight division, the only change in the men’s 135-pound division came with the switch on the throne. With Dvalishvili now occupying it, O’Malley is the #1-ranked bantamweight.

Featherweight: The biggest climber this week is the charging Diego Lopes, who got the better of former two-time title challenger and longtime top-five contender Brian Ortega on Saturday night. The Mexico-residing Brazilian has risen by a mammoth 10 positions to #3. “T-City,” meanwhile, has been relegated to #5.

With Movsar Evloev staying put at #6, the changes have led to a two-place fall to #7 for Arnold Allen.

Lightweight: No changes.

Welterweight: No changes.

Middleweight: No changes.

Light Heavyweight: No changes.

Heavyweight: No changes.

You can view the full updated UFC rankings here.

Continue Reading UFC Rankings Report: Dvalishvili Lands Above Aspinall In P4P Top 10, Muhammad Jumps Du Plessis at MMA News.

UFC Rankings Report: Dvalishvili Lands Above Aspinall In P4P Top 10, Muhammad Jumps Du Plessis

As always, the latest action on offer inside the Octagon has seen some climb the ladder toward contention and others fall away. And in the aftermath of UFC 306 (Noche UFC), MMA News has you covered with this week’s updates to the official UFC rankings. Men’s Pound-For-Pound: Merab Dvalishvili closed out Saturday’s event with his long-awaited championship […]

Continue Reading UFC Rankings Report: Dvalishvili Lands Above Aspinall In P4P Top 10, Muhammad Jumps Du Plessis at MMA News.

As always, the latest action on offer inside the Octagon has seen some climb the ladder toward contention and others fall away.

And in the aftermath of UFC 306 (Noche UFC), MMA News has you covered with this week’s updates to the official UFC rankings.

Men’s Pound-For-Pound: Merab Dvalishvili closed out Saturday’s event with his long-awaited championship crowning. As a result, the bantamweight kingpin has debuted on the P4P list at #7, one position above interim heavyweight titleholder Tom Aspinall. Further up, welterweight champ Belal Muhammad (#5) has jumped his middleweight counterpart Dricus Du Plessis (#6).

The defeated O’Malley, meanwhile, has slid seven positions to #13. Dvalishvili’s friend and teammate Aljamain Sterling is out of the top 15 entirely following the Georgian’s arrival.

Women’s Pound-for-Pound: Valentina Shevchenko is once again the flyweight queen, and she’s also back on the P4P mountaintop. “Bullet” has climbed two places back to top spot, while previous #1 Alexa Grasso has fallen to #3 following her lopsided loss to Shevchenko in their trilogy.

Women’s Strawweight: No changes.

Women’s Flyweight: The sole change at 125 pounds has seen Grasso slip back to top contender status, swapping positions with now-champ Shevchenko.

Women’s Bantamweight: Norma Dumont secured the biggest win of her career in the Noche UFC featured prelim, outpointing a badly damaged Irene Aldana. The result has seen the Brazilian ascend by three positions to #5 at 135 pounds. The defeated Mexican, on the other hand, is down just one spot to #6.

Flyweight: In the male 125-pound weight class, Asu Almabayev has moved up one place to share #14 with the recently retired Matt Schnell.

Bantamweight: Like in the women’s flyweight division, the only change in the men’s 135-pound division came with the switch on the throne. With Dvalishvili now occupying it, O’Malley is the #1-ranked bantamweight.

Featherweight: The biggest climber this week is the charging Diego Lopes, who got the better of former two-time title challenger and longtime top-five contender Brian Ortega on Saturday night. The Mexico-residing Brazilian has risen by a mammoth 10 positions to #3. “T-City,” meanwhile, has been relegated to #5.

With Movsar Evloev staying put at #6, the changes have led to a two-place fall to #7 for Arnold Allen.

Lightweight: No changes.

Welterweight: No changes.

Middleweight: No changes.

Light Heavyweight: No changes.

Heavyweight: No changes.

You can view the full updated UFC rankings here.

Continue Reading UFC Rankings Report: Dvalishvili Lands Above Aspinall In P4P Top 10, Muhammad Jumps Du Plessis at MMA News.

Sean O’Malley’s Coach Explains What He Said to Merab Dvalishvili During UFC 306 Main Event

Sean O’Malley’s Coach Explains What He Said to Merab Dvalishvili During UFC 306 Main EventThe UFC 306 headliner was a pretty straightforward affair with Merab Dvalishvili using his wrestling to dominate Sean O’Malley…

Sean O’Malley’s Coach Explains What He Said to Merab Dvalishvili During UFC 306 Main Event

The UFC 306 headliner was a pretty straightforward affair with Merab Dvalishvili using his wrestling to dominate Sean O’Malley for 25 minutes and leave Sphere with the bantamweight title.

However, there was a fairly interesting moment right from the get-go that brought a stop to the action.

In the opening seconds of their main event clash, Dvalishvili began mouthing off, but his words weren’t being directed at O’Malley. Instead, ‘The Machine’ was trading verbal jabs with O’Malley’s coach, Tim Welch. Referee Herb Dean quickly stepped in to admonish Dvalishvili for talking to O’Malley’s corner. He also issued a warning to Welch for what was described on the broadcast as “excessive coaching.”

While Welch’s words to Dvalishvili could not be heard during the broadcast, O’Malley’s coach later revealed what he said in the opening seconds.

Merab Dvalishvili UFC

“I said be patient Merab, but congrats he fought a great fight,” Welch wrote on X.

UFC

It’s not the first time Tim Welch has been caught ‘coaching’ another UFC fighter

It’s not the first time Welch has been busted trying to “coach” an opposing fighter. As seen in the Fight Inc: Inside the UFC documentary on Roku, Welch appeared to communicate with Aljamain Sterling during the fighter’s bantamweight title tilt with O’Malley at UFC 292. Moments later, ‘Sugar’ caught Sterling with a booming right hand as the then-champ was looking to close the distance.

Moments later, the fight was over and O’Malley was crowned the new king at 135 pounds.

Unfortunately for O’Malley, he couldn’t handle the smothering attack of Dvalishvili, bringing an end to his reign after just 13 months.

Dvalishvili has now won 11 straight fights inside the Octagon and will likely face a tough test in his first title defense as he’s expected to meet No. 2 ranked contender Umar Nurmagomedov.

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‘That Was A Fluke Too’ – Former UFC Champ Questions O’Malley’s Win Over Sterling After UFC 306

Merab Dvalishvili proved in the main event of UFC 306 that he had the counter to Sean O’Malley’s style. The new bantamweight champion was able to close the distance on “Suga” and implement his grappling and despite several close scorecards, the challenger was seemingly in control of the fight for the vast majority of the […]

Continue Reading ‘That Was A Fluke Too’ – Former UFC Champ Questions O’Malley’s Win Over Sterling After UFC 306 at MMA News.

Merab Dvalishvili proved in the main event of UFC 306 that he had the counter to Sean O’Malley’s style.

The new bantamweight champion was able to close the distance on “Suga” and implement his grappling and despite several close scorecards, the challenger was seemingly in control of the fight for the vast majority of the duration.

O’Malley did have some success with his striking, especially in the final moments of the fight but he wasn’t able to catch Dvalishvili in the same way that he was able to his teammate, Aljamain Sterling.

The “Funkmaster” has openly admitted that he made some crucial mistakes in that fight back at UFC 292 that as we saw this past weekend, could have been very different if Sterling had more effectively closed the gap on his opponent.

Henry Cejudo Reviews Sean O’Malley’s Performance At UFC 306

On a recent episode of the Pound 4 Pound podcast, former bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo weighed in with his thoughts on the fight.

“Triple C” took this opportunity to gloat about how he correctly predicted how the main event would play out based on what he has seen from both men.

Having faced both Sterling and Dvalishvili in the past, Cejudo felt that the challenger would be too much for O’Malley over five rounds.

He also believes that O’Malley’s title back at UFC 292 was a “fluke” after he was able to stop Sterling without really having his grappling game put to the test.

Cejudo made reference to how he was able to put up a better fight against Dvalishvili at UFC 298, where he lost via unanimous decision.

“What can I say? I predicted these things. Sean is not accustomed to going five rounds and he is no accustomed to people on his legs and I just felt like, I still go back and say hey, that fight with Aljamain Sterling, that was a fluke too. Aljamain was still in that fight and people thought I was just hating. It’s like no, I’ve been in there with Merab, I did a whole lot better than Sean did when I fought Merab. I mean I took down Merab, like Merab is lucky that I had that groin injury.”

Read also: Sean O’Malley’s Coach Reveals What He Said To Enrage Merab Dvalishvili At Noche UFC 306

Continue Reading ‘That Was A Fluke Too’ – Former UFC Champ Questions O’Malley’s Win Over Sterling After UFC 306 at MMA News.