Sean O'Malley will star in Sphere.
UFC CEO Dana White announced on social media on Friday that O'Malley will defend his bantamweight title against No. 1 contender Merab Dvalishvili in the main event of UFC 306 at the Sphere in Las Vegas on Sept. 14. White has maintained that the pay-per-view show is a one-off because it is the most expensive to produce in the promotion's history.
The sponsorship deal will see the event officially branded as “Riyadh Season Noche UFC.”
O'Malley is looking to defend his title for the second time following victories over Aljamain Sterling and Marlon “Tito” Vera. “Sugar” has won six straight fights, not including a bye win over Pedro Munoz.
Dvalishvili has been at the forefront of the fight over the past few years on the strength of a 10-fight winning streak. If his best friend and training partner Sterling hadn't been the reigning champion, Dvalishvili would have had a shot at UFC gold sooner. As it stands, Sterling's loss and move to featherweight gave Dvalishvili the chance to challenge O'Malley.
White also announced a trilogy match as the co-main event. About TUF32 Her coaches are UFC flyweight champion Alexa Grasso and former champion Valentina Shevchenko. Grasso won the title in 2023 with a fourth-round submission win over Shevchenko and defended it in a controversial split draw at the promotion's first Noche UFC event.
The rest of the pay-per-view main card will feature a rematch between two-time featherweight title challenger Brian Ortega and top rising star Diego Lopez, along with Daniel Zellhuber vs. Esteban Rybovic and Ode Osborne vs. Ronaldo Rodriguez.
The full UFC 306 fight card can be seen below.
