Merab Dvalishvili’s tremendous instincts not only helped him in his rematch with Sean O’Malley, but during the beginning of his walkout.
Dvalishvili retained the UFC bantamweight title with a dominant third-round submission of O’Malley in the main event of UFC 316 this past Saturday. “The Machine” nearly didn’t make it to the octagon due to a barricade at the end of Dvalishvili’s walkout tunnel collapsing, causing several fans to fall over to the arena floor.
Check out a new angle of the moment, courtesy of vato.gv on Instagram, a member of Dvalishvili’s social media team.
The moment didn’t seem to faze Dvalishvili too much as he delivered an exceptional showing in the octagon, likely leaving O’Malley in the rear-view mirror for good.
Dvalishvili now has 13 consecutive wins following his second title defense. The 34-year-old captured the title win a decision win over O’Malley at UFC 306 this past September at Sphere in Las Vegas. At UFC 311 in January, the promotion’s first pay-per-view event of 2025, Dvalishvili handed Umar Nurmagomedov his first career loss via unanimous decision in the fight card’s co-main event. The current run for the bantamweight champion has led to quite a debate on whether or not he is the greatest bantamweight of all-time.
