UFC 306 Results: Merab Dvalishvili & Valentina Shevchenko Crowned New Champions at Historic Sphere Event

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Merab Dvalishvili and Valentina Shevchenko were crowned new champions in the headliner of historic UFC 306: O'Malley vs. Dvalishvili event, which took place in front of a sold out Sphere in Las Vegas on Sunday (September 15).

The tenth numbered event of 2024 recorded 16,024 audience in attendance, which also marked the arena record for highest grossing event at $22 million USD, and also highest merchandise sales event as the Sphere produced iconic visuals, and celebratory storytelling, to brilliant fights and stunning championships.

Dvalishvili dethroned Sean O'Malley from the bantamweight throne with a decision win in the main event, while former champion Shevchenko defeated Alexa Grasso reclaim the women's flyweight title in the co-main event.

It was a long night in Las Vegas as 8 of the 10 bouts on the card, including the headliners went the distance for the result on the judges' scorecard, while the 2 stoppage wins saw the fighters bag performance bonuses for their respective technical knockout (TKO) and submission wins.

In total four fighters walked away with bonuses as the lightweight contest between Esteban Ribovics and Daniel Zellhuber was awarded the fight of the night, while Ignacio Bahamondes and Ketlen Souza bagged performance bonuses. Here is the recap from UFC 306:

UFC 306 Recap

In the main event, UFC bantamweight champion O'Malley and No. 1 contender Dvalishvili finally engaged in a fight long anticipated. Dvalishvili stayed on the move and landed takedowns, all which kept O'Malley from landing his strikes.

Once on the ground, Dvalishvili rag-dolled O'Malley and out-landed him with ground and pound. It was a perfect gameplan that earned him the belt. And following the win, the new UFC bantamweight champion Dvalishvili was elated.

"Today I wasn't feeling different than any other day, and I was curious because I'm fighting for the belt. But that's what I do every day, I work hard," Dvalishvili said at the post-fight Octagon interview.

"Crazy! I feel like I'm in a dream. I just went step by step, and that's how I got here. I know O'Malley was good, but I made him look normal. Today, I'm the best fighter in the UFC. I proved it!"

In the co-main event, UFC flyweight champion Grasso was forced to defend ground control from former titleholder Shevchenko throughout their third and definitive meeting which ended with a new champion being crowned.

Shevchenko landed takedowns at will and stayed on top position, while Grasso hunted for submissions off her back. There were close attempts from each, but a conservative Shevchenko stuck to her gameplan to eek out the unanimous decision.

The new UFC flyweight champion Shevchenko said, "It's just so huge. It's like a dream come true fighting in Sphere. Thank you all for enjoying the show and being a part of the UFC family, the martial arts family. Everything about this fight was more satisfying.

"The gameplan was go in and fight to the end, do everything to win the fight. I want to thank Alexa because this rivalry we had was such a great result, this is what people want from women's martial arts, not hype and trash talk, but respect. This rivalry will stay in history forever."

Also on the main card, Diego Lopes dominated Brian Ortega for a unanimous decision after Ribovics edged Zellhuber for a close split decision. In the main card opener, Ronaldo Rodriguez outworked Ode Osbourne for a decision win.

In the preliminary card, Myanmar's Joshua Van went back and forth with Edgar Chairez in the first round, eating kicks and getting knocked down. In a wild round two, Van surged with brilliant body combinations, severely damaging Chairez, who then rebounded with his own damaging strikes.

Van put a period on the last round with takedowns and ground control, earning the unanimous decision victory. After the fight, Van said: "I'm sorry my cardio wasn't what it could be, that was the best we could do on short notice. We know he doesn't like body shots so we had to give him a taste of that."

China's Aoriqileng was the very first fighter to walk out to the Octagon in Sphere to take on young Mexican phenom Raul Rosas Jr. After an opening stanza of testing one another on the feet, Rosas shot for and got the takedown, and controlled Aori on the ground.

Aori rebounded in the second, staving off all takedowns and landing good counters. Rosas went right for the takedown in the final round and controlled the entire round, getting the win by decision against the much-more experienced Aoriqileng. Here is a look at the final results of UFC 306:

UFC 306 Results

• Bantamweight World Championship Bout: Merab Dvalishvili defeated Sean O'Malley by unanimous decision (49-46, 48-47, 48-47)
• Women's Flyweight World Championship Bout: Valentina Shevchenko defeated Alexa Grasso by unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45)
• Featherweight Bout: Diego Lopes defeated Brian Ortega by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)
• Lightweight Bout: Esteban Ribovics defeated Daniel Zellhuber by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Flyweight Bout: Ronaldo Rodriguez defeated Ode Osbourne by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 29-27)
• Women's Bantamweight Bout: Norma Dumont defeated Irene Aldana by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Lightweight Bout: Ignacio Bahamondes defeated Manuel Torres by TKO (strikes) at 4:02 of Round 1
• Women's Strawweight Bout: Ketlen Souza defeated Yazmin Jauregui by submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:02 of Round 1
• Flyweight Bout: Joshua Van defeated Edgar Chairez by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Bantamweight Bout: Raul Rosas Jr. defeated Aoriqileng by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)