Former UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley is on a redemption arc tonight, as he faces Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 316 in Newark, New Jersey. The pair met previously in the octagon at UFC 306 on September 14, 2024, where Dvalishvili defeated O’Malley via unanimous decision to become the UFC bantamweight champion. With their rematch at hand, Dvalishvili was surprisingly joined by heavyweight legend Mike Tyson. 

Before tonight’s main event fight between the two bantamweights kicked off, ‘The Machine’ Dvalishvili hopped on Instagram to share a picture of himself posing with Tyson. “An honor to be in the same building as @miketyson,” he captioned the post. Since his first fight against O’Malley, Dvalishvili successfully defended his title against Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311 in January 2025, also by unanimous decision.

The fight is about to begin, and it’s yet to be seen whether O’Malley can redeem himself after being dominated by ‘The Machine’ in their last fight. Dvalishvili landed six takedowns, controlled the fight for over 10 minutes, and neutralized O’Malley’s striking. O’Malley, on the other hand, couldn’t find his rhythm against the constant pressure. It also resulted in the end of O’Malley’s reign and halted his seven-fight unbeaten streak.

For Dvalishvili, it did the opposite by extending his win streak to 11, a bantamweight record, which was extended to 12 after the win over Nurmagomedov. In the aftermath of the fight, O’Malley posted on X, “Over promised under delivered. Sorry. Love you guys.” He later revealed that he is going under the knife for a torn labrum, which he suffered before his loss to Dvalishvili. 

In the following days, he re-watched the fight and disputed the result of their first bout. “Round 1. I won that round 100%,” O’Malley wrote on X. “Based on damage, that’s my round… Round 2 [definitely] lost. Took very little damage, though… Round 3 was closer than round 1 in my opinion. My round. Up 2-1 going into round 4… Round 4 [was] Merabs round for sure. 2-2 going into the 5th… Round 5 I won. I am the champ. God is good. 1, 3, 5 rounds I won. Defending [the] belt against Umar in Vegas June/July.”

Regardless, the question is, can O’Malley beat Dvalishvili in the rematch? 

Sean O’Malley vs. Merab Dvalishvili: Gory prediction from O’Malley’s coach

O’Malley’s coach, Tim Welch, isn’t afraid to speak his mind, and he is not willing to sugarcoat what will happen when O’Malley and Dvalishvili meet in the octagon for their rematch. After a decision loss in their first meeting, Welch believes a different version of O’Malley will step into the Octagon—one capable of inflicting real damage.

“It’s gonna be a war,” Welch said on his YouTube channel. “We’re planning for a 25-minute battle, but I see Sean cutting his face.” He seems to paint a vivid picture of how the fight will go, as he said, “Merab maybe getting wobbled by a shot, taking a shot at the wrong time, getting knee’d up the middle to the lips, maybe to the beak. [O’Malley] knees his beak, hurts Merab. Boom, boom, boom… TKO.”

O’Malley, now fully healed from labrum surgery, has made serious adjustments and trained with champions like Israel Adesanya. 

That said, it’s yet to be seen whether Sean O’Malley can find success in his redemption arc. Or whether Dvalishvili does what he did last time, and this time with more motivation due to his meeting with Mike Tyson before the fight. Who do you think will win?