UFC Sets O’Malley-Dvalishvili, Grasso-Shevchenko 3 Title Fights Atop UFC 306

#NocheUFC from @SphereVegas on September 14th!!!! Fight Club Pre sale Monday. pic.twitter.com/jABnXWAUPw

— UFC (@ufc) July 26, 2024

An even 20% of the Ultimate Fighting Championship bouts on Mexican Independence Day will be for gold.

The organization formalized the entire lineup of UFC 306 on Friday, announcing on video the complete 10-fight billing. Serving as the main event will be a bantamweight championship battle between Sean O'Malley (18-1, 1 NC) and Merab Dvalishvili (17-4), in a fight long-since rumored to be headlining this show. The co-main attraction will come at 125 pounds as Alexa Grasso (16-3-1) puts her belt on the line against ex-flyweight queen Valentina Shevchenko (23-4-1) in their trilogy match. This gala event will go down at The Sphere in Las Vegas on Sept. 14.

135-pound champ O’Malley has amassed a seven-fight unbeaten streak since his lone career loss, a knockout to Marlon Vera in 2020. As he worked his way up the ladder, O’Malley’s lone blemish in this stretch came against Pedro Munhoz, with their encounter ending via no-contest due to an eye poke. “Suga Sean” went on to claim a contentious split decision win over Petr Yan that later earned Sherdog’s 2022 “Robbery of the Year” award. Since then, the brash Montanan punched out Aljamain Sterling to claim the throne and avenged his loss to Vera in his first defense.

While O’Malley has not lost in seven fights, Dvalishvili has emerged the victor in 10 straight outings. After starting his UFC run off with a split decision loss to Frankie Saenz and a literal last-second submission defeat to Ricky Simon, Dvalishvili has been a man possessed at running through the division. While he has prevailed in 10 straight bouts, the Georgian has won on the scorecards in nine of those. His lone finish came against Marlon Moraes in 2021, getting the stoppage via strikes in the second stanza.

Longtime strawweight Grasso moved up to 125 pounds in 2020, where she faced and defeated Ji Yeon Kim. Three wins over Maycee Barber, Joanne Wood and Viviane Araujo catapulted her into a title shot, and she captured the win over dominant force Shevchenko by face crank in 2023. That victory earned her a spot on the podium among Sherdog’s 2023 “Upset of the Year” list, and an immediate rematch with the woman she tapped. Grasso and Shevchenko fought to a split draw when running it back on the UFC’s inaugural “Noche UFC” card in 2023, and it will have been just under one year since either woman has fought.

Shevchenko’s record-setting run as longest-reigning flyweight champ came to a screeching halt courtesy of Grasso at UFC 285. That loss snapped a nine-fight win streak, with all nine coming in her new weight class of 125 pounds. As she racked up a women’s record seven straight title defenses, “Bullet” topped names including Liz Carmouche, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Jessica Andrade and Katlyn Cerminara. Shevchenko is currently tied with Cerminara for their division’s all-time win record of nine, while she alone celebrates the most knockouts (four) among her litany of accolades at the division.