UFC 316 is upon us this weekend with two bantamweight title fights headlining the card. In the main event Merab Dvalishvili looks to defend his bantamweight title in the rematch with Sean O’Malley. Julianna Pena also seeks to defend her world championship against two-time Olympic gold medalist Kayla Harrison in the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Merab Dvalishvili looks to get another victory over the former bantamweight champion, Sean O’Malley. The first meeting between the two was at UFC Noche, September 14th 2024 at the Sphere in Las Vegas, where Dvalishvili won via unanimous decision with a dominant display.
‘The Machine’ who is currently riding on a 12 fight win streak looks to get his second title defence after a clinic performance against Umar Nurmagomedov earlier on this year. O’Malley has taken a long time off social media to clear all distractions for his rematch, while introducing UFC hall of famer Demetrious Johnson in his training camp for the preparation of Dvalishvili’s wrestling.
Julianna Pena regained her bantamweight title at UFC 307 after defeating Raquel Pennington via a split decision. Also on the same card was her opponent, Kayla Harrison, who also got a victory against Ketlen Vieira via unanimous decision. Harrison has had her eyes set on the UFC title since arriving in the UFC from the PFL in April 2024, where she made her UFC debut at UFC 300 against former champion Holly Holm.
Kelvin Gastelum takes on Joe Pyfer at middleweight, both fighters will be looking for a win to climb back into the rankings. Mario Bautista is welcoming Patchy Mix to the UFC in their bantamweight bout. Mix, the former Bellator champion has only one loss in his mma career and looks to take Bautista’s number 10 ranking. Bautista is coming off a victory over Jose Aldo.
The first fight of the main card is Vicente Luque vs Kevin Holland in a thrilling welterweight clash. Both fighters will be looking to strike with each other and get that knockout victory. Holland looks to climb back into the welterweight rankings with a win against Luque, after beating Gunnar Nelson in the 02, London back in March.
UFC 316 is taking place this weekend, June 8th. Fans can watch the UFC prelims on UFC Fight Pass, the main fights will be broadcasted on TNT Sports.
