Can Sean O’Malley win back the UFC Bantamweight Championship?
This past Tuesday, Dana White confirmed that Sean O’Malley will get the opportunity to win back the UFC Bantamweight Championship at UFC 316. At UFC 306, the 30-year-old lost the belt on his second title defense to Merab Dvalishvili. Since then, Merab has successfully defended his title against Umar Nurmagomedov.
Merab is currently on a strong 12-fight winning streak and considering that he just handed Umar Nurmagomedov his first loss - who was on an impressive 18-fight winning streak - it certainly won’t be an easy night for Sean O’Malley. Then again, the controversy surrounding O’Malley and Dvalishvili's first fight is that many feel that the former was actually screwed out of his title thanks to the judges. O’Malley had no issues expressing his opinion on that notion either.
"The narrative around this f*cking fight is that I got my ass whooped," O'Malley said on his YouTube channel last week. "I'm going to ask the UFC if they could please post that fight on YouTube. I won the first, third and fifth round. I challenge all you little dorks that think I got my ass kicked to rewatch that fight. I know it's hard to be non-biased, but rewatch that fight, turn the commentary off and tell me I did not win that fight. I won the first, third, and fifth. Oh, I'm f*cking fired up right now. I'm the champ, I won, go rewatch that fight."
That wasn’t the only match confirmed. In the co-main event, Juliana Pena will defend the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship for the first time since winning in October. Pena fought Requel Pennington for the vacant belt after Amanda Nunes relinquished her title at UFC 289 following a dominant win over Irene Aldana.
Pena’s first title defense will be against Kayla Harrison, who’s riding a nice three fight winning streak including a victory over former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Holly Holm.
Harrison made her UFC debut in April 2024 after gaining a huge wave of momentum during her time in PFL (Professional Fighters League). The 34-year-old is an Olympic Gold Medalist who came into MMA professionally back in 2018.
Check out the updated line-up for UFC 316:
UFC 316 Main Event on ESPN+ PPV:
135 lbs.: UFC Bantamweight Champion Sean O’Malley vs. Merab Dvalishvili
UFC 316 Co-Main Event on ESPN+ PPV:
135 lbs.: UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Julianna Pena vs. Kayla Harrison
UFC 316 Main Card, Prelims on ESPN+ PPV/ESPN/ESPN+:
135 lbs.: Marlon Vera vs. Mario Bautista
205 lbs.: Johnny Walker vs. Azamat Murzakanov
125 lbs.: Bruno Silva vs. Joshua Van
265 lbs.: Serghei Spivac vs. Shamil Gaziev