Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O’Malley are primed to square off again.
The rematch is set for UFC 316 and with the June 17 headlining bout a little over a month away, the UFC has released the official poster for the event featuring Dvalishvili and O’Malley, plus co-main event fighters Julianna Peña and Kayla Harrison.
Check out the poster below.
In the main event, Dvalishvili goes for a second successful consecutive defense of the men’s bantamweight title when he takes on O’Malley, the man he took it from. The two first fought at UFC 306 this past September and Dvalishvili won a unanimous decision over O’Malley. Dvalishvili followed that up with another decision win over the undefeated Umar Nurmagomedov to extend his current win streak to 12.
O’Malley has not competed since the first Dvalishvili fight as he has taken time off to recover from hip surgery. Following that loss, O’Malley took time off to undergo surgery for a hip injury while frequently calling for an immediate rematch.
Peña enters UFC 316 as women’s bantamweight champion in her second reign. “The Venezuelan Vixen” returned from a near-800-day layoff to defeat Raquel Pennington via split decision to claim a vacant belt at UFC 307. She now takes on the heavily favored Harrison, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in judo and two-time PFL champion who has won 18 of 19 pro fights, including her first two UFC outings.
UFC 316 takes place at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on June 17 and airs exclusively on ESPN+ pay-per-view. See the updated lineup below (bout order still to be determined).
Merab Dvalishvili vs. Sean O’Malley
Julianna Peña vs. Kayla Harrison
Vicente Luque vs. Kevin Holland
Marlon Vera vs. Mario Bautista
Serghei Spivac vs. Waldo Cortes-Acosta
Johnny Walker vs. Azamat Murzakanov
MMA Fighting – All Posts
