The Garden State hosted the UFC for the 21st time on Saturday, this time, with the card being headlined by a pair of bantamweight title fights. In the co-main event, former Olympian, Kayla Harrison, bested Julianna Pena to successfully capture the belt. And in the final fight of the night, a rematch between, Merab Dvalishvilli and Sean O’Malley, ‘The Machine’ submitted ‘Suga’ to retain his 135lb title once again. This five-fight main card was all action and boasted three submission finishes. Some well-known veterans on this edition of losers and one former Bellator champ with an abysmal debut.

Sean O’Malley

Merab Dvalishvili dominated and submitted Sean O’Malley in the third round of their title fight in the main event of UFC 316. The rematch- in the makings since O’Malley lost his belt to Merab, last September, was highly anticipated.

Thanks to Merab, O’Malley has now lost twice in a row for the first time in his pro career. Heading into the fight Sean was the #1 ranked contender. There are a couple of different directions that Sean could choose to take this train at this point. He could look to move up to the featherweight division to mix it up as he has a large frame for bantamweight. However, there are still real contenders at bantamweight should he want to try again for the belt. That said, the path to the title shot is filled with grappling heavy fighters. It’d likely be wise for Sean to avoid a matchup like Umar Nurmagomedov and instead opt for the winner of Marcus McGhee vs Petr Yan. The pair a scheduled to fight on July 26th. Yan is currently ranked at #2 while McGhee is getting a huge opportunity at #13.

Marcus is 4-0 in the UFC, stopping three of his opponents and earning as many performance bonuses. Marcus was last in action in November with his unanimous decision victory over Jonathan Martinez. Petr fought Sean back in 2022 losing a controversial split decision in a bout that landed Fight of the Night honors. Petr would then lose to Merab before bouncing back, winning unanimous decisions against Song Yadong and most recently, Deiveson Figueiredo. A striker’s delight in the making, no matter who wins. And the potential for the fans to see a very entertaining rematch that has a lot of bad blood behind it. Also potential for fans to see new blood in the division against another former champion. This is a good fight for Sean to get his bearings to see if he should potentially move up in the future.

O’Malley’s next fight: Winner of Petr Yan vs Marcus McGhee

Julianna Pena

Kayla Harrison took just two rounds to smoother and submit Julianna Pena on Saturday. Pena, who has struggled with activity due to injury over the course of her entire UFC career, is now 8-4 with the promotion. This is a tough pill for Pena to swallow, as Kayla looked a lot stronger than her in there.

Julianna has a couple of opponents that make sense for her to take on next. Pena could take on Ketlen Vieira who is ranked at #3 in the division.  Vieira has a similar UFC record to Pena at 9-4. And she has a split decision loss to Raquel Pennington and her most recent defeat is a unanimous decision to Kayla Harrison, last October. This is a matchup that makes a lot of sense except for the fact that Ketlen egregiously missed weight for her most recent fight against Macy Chiasson on May 30. Even though Vieira got the unanimous decision victory, the fight had to be moved up to 145lbs (she weighed in at 146lbs).

With that fact in mind, a more deserving opponent would be Norma Dumont. Norma, who is ranked at #4 at bantamweight, is 8-2 within the UFC. Dumont is currently riding a five-fight win streak with her most recent win coming over Irene Aldana in September of last year. Norma is ready to fight and a bout against Pena could offer a fresh a competitive matchup to the division. Booking this one comes down to timing and what Pena is thinking next for her career- leaning toward the Dumont matchup but that’s only if Dumont hasn’t done enough already to warrant a title shot (extremely doubtful).

Pena’s next fight: Ketlen Vieira or Norma Dumont

Kelvin Gastelum

Joe Pyfer found success on the feet at UFC 316 on Saturday, dropping Kelvin Gastelum twice on the way to a unanimous decision victory. Both middleweight fighters were presumably narrowly outside of the rankings. Gastelum is now 2-2 since mid 2021 but has had five fights cancelled in the time frame as well. Somehow, The Ultimate Fighter Season 17 winner is still just 33 years old. A smaller middleweight, with no chance of a welterweight move due to his weight cutting history, Gastelum will have to be extremely selective with his matchups.

We could realistically see Kelvin taking on any number of opponents in his next fight. But ideally, Kelvin should fight Gerald Meerschaert in his next bout. Meerschaert is 12-11 in the UFC since being signed in 2016. The submission specialist is currently riding a two-fight losing streak but has fought nearly everyone at middleweight. Gerald is 3-3 in his last six fights including a 2023 first round TKO loss to Joe Pyfer. Gerald was last in action back in April when he lost a unanimous decision to Brad Tavares. The grappling prowess of Meerschaert vs the explosiveness, boxing and wrestling of Gastelum. Good fight for the fans. Winner firmly secures themselves in the gatekeeper status at the weight class. Loser could have a tough time gaining respect moving forward especially if the fight ends with a finish.

Gastelum’s next fight: Gerald Meerschaert

Patchy Mix

UFC newcomer and former Bellator champion Patchy Mix had no answer for Mario Bautista‘s standup on his way to a unanimous decision loss Saturday.  Mix stepped in after Bautista’s original opponent, #7 ranked Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera, was forced to withdraw due to injury.

Mario made his UFC debut against Corey Sandhagen in 2019- heading into Saturday he was riding a seven-fight win streak including victories over Ricky Simon and Jose Aldo. Even though Bautista is ranked at #10 he’s super tough. No excuses though, it was an ugly and head-scratching performance out of Patchy. With that said, Mix will need to establish where he fits within the ranks by getting in the win column in his next bout.

Giving Patchy the loser of Cody Garbrandt vs Raoni Barcelos could make a lot of sense. The two bantamweights just outside of the top 15 ranks are scheduled to fight on June 14th. Logic here is that Cody is a former UFC bantamweight champion himself. But he has stumbled in recent years in the form of numerous cancelled fights, injuries and Cody is 2-3 since mid-2020. Garbrandt was last in action in April of last year when he was submitted by Deiveson Figueiredo. Bracelos is a 12-fight UFC vet that has been with the promotion since 2018. Raoni is 2-2 in his last four fights, but those two losses are against Umar Nurmagomedov and Kyler Phillips. The 38-year-old bested hot-prospect, Payton Talbott, in his last time in the cage back in January.

Either way, a fight against either man would offer Mix an immediate chance to regain some lost respect. Both men are respectable opponents but have displayed some chinks in their armor in recent bouts. Good test to find out where Patchy belongs.

Mix’s next fight: Loser of Cody Garbrandt vs. Raoni Barcelos

Vicente Luque

Vicente Luque weathered some good shots early, only to be submitted in the second round of his UFC 316 main card opener, against Kevin Holland, on Saturday. Luque entered the fight ranked at #14 in the welterweight division while his opponent was unranked. Luque has struggled in recent years and he’s 2-4 since 2021. In comparison, before that, Luque was on a 10-1 streak within the UFC.

Vicente is 16-7 with the UFC in his 10th year with promotion. He will likely slide out of the top 15 welterweight rankings.

Sticking with a pick from a recent edition of Losers, Luque should take on Gilbert Burns in his next fight. Gilbert last fought on May 17th in a main event against Michael Morales. He was TKO’d midway thru the first round. The loss was his fourth in a row and he has not won since his April of 2023 victory against Jorge Masvidal. Gilbert is still ranked at #10 within the welterweight division and has had some extremely daunting opponents in recent years (Michael Morales, Sean Brady, Jack Della Maddalena, Belal Muhammad). At 38 years old, Burns isn’t done yet but would be a good matchup for a fighter like Luque.

The timing matches up and somehow these two UFC vets haven’t faced each other before. Easy booking to make here that could easily be a co-main event type fight. Winner claws right back into relevancy while the loser likely gets the official ‘journeyman’ title.

Vicente’s next fight: Gilbert Burns

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After a deluge of trash talk, Pena had little to no answer for Harrison, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in Judo and two-time PFL women’s lightweight champ, in Newark on Saturday. Harrison looked bigger, stronger, was able to get Pena down, and eventually picked up the sub, absorbing little damage in the process.

Thus ended Julianna Pena’s second title reign in the UFC, with no successful title defenses in either. Now, she’s looking ahead, hoping to land a fight against the winner of Harrison versus Amanda Nunes.

“Thank you to the fans who lifted me with your love and encouragement during this fight camp,” Pena wrote on social media in response to the loss. “I love you all and feel so grateful for all the support and energy you guys give me—It truly means the world! I’m sorry I wasn’t able to get the job done. I’m super disappointed but hats off to Kayla on her win!”

“Time to get healed up and get ready for her next fight because I’m calling dibs on the winner!” she finished.

Harrison vs. Nunes has been talked about for years, but after “The Lioness” lost her title to Pena in December of 2021, talk of the fight hit the backburner. Nunes would avenge the loss, claiming her belt back in an immediate rematch, but retired following UFC 289 in Vancouver in 2023, after defeating Irene Aldana. At the time, Harrison was still under contract to the PFL.

MMA retirements rarely seem to stick, however. With Harrison arriving in the UFC last year and working her way to the title, talk has swirled of a Nunes comeback. That was confirmed on Saturday when Nunes entered the cage following Harrison’s victory, confirming that she would indeed make her return to fighting before the pair faced off.

As for Pena, she’s 1-1 against Nunes and 0-1 against Harrison. Whether the UFC is interested in booking her against either fighter while coming off a loss remains to be seen.

The post Julianna Pena Issues Statement Following UFC 316 Loss, Calls “Dibs” On Harrison vs. Nunes Winner appeared first on Cageside Press.

Peña (11-5) is the two-time bantamweight champion coming off a split-decision victory over Raquel Pennington at UFC 307 last October. She originally won the title by scoring a major upset over hall of famer Amanda Nunes at UFC 269 before giving the title right back at UFC 277.

Subject to plenty of online scrutiny Peña has been steadfast in her self-belief. Coming into this fight she was a pretty large underdog and she fed into that on media day.

“It was told to me that I’m a six-to-one underdog. Being a six-to-one underdog as a champion is very disrespectful, number one,” Peña told Cageside Press at her media day scrum on Wednesday.

“When you put me in a position of nothing to lose and everything to gain, that makes me a very dangerous woman.”

Harrison (18-1) is the former PFL superstar winning two lightweight titles in their tournament format. Her lone career loss came at the hands of Larissa Pacheco in 2022 in what is largely considered the biggest upset in PFL history.

A two-time Olympic Judo gold medalist Harrison entered the UFC in 2023. A submission victory over former champ Holly Holm made many feel she was ready for a title shot. Coming off a win over Ketlen Vieira at UFC 307 she’s earned her right to fight for a belt.

Round 1 Harrison and Peña came out very respectful of each other. Not much landed until Harrison flew in for a body lock takedown and put Peña on her back. The fight stayed right there until Peña landed two illegal up kicks.

The referee took a point from Peña and reset the action on the feet.

Round 2 both ladies came out more aggressive looking to land hands up top. Peña didn’t show much urgency coming off losing a point in the first round. Harrison clearly didn’t want to gas herself out to land a finishing shot. Five rounds is a long time.

Harrison found her way back into the body lock, got the takedown, put Peña back on the ground. After getting to side control Harrison snuck the kimura in and finished the fight.

Kayla Harrison is your new UFC women’s bantamweight champion!

Official Result: Kayla Harrison def. Julianna Peña via R2 SUB (Kimura), 4:55

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Since their initial meeting last September at Noche UFC, where Dvalishvili derailed the “Suga Show,” O’Malley has been on the sidelines. Merab Dvalishvili, meanwhile, went on to defeat Umar Nurmagomedov in January, becoming the first to defeat the highly-touted Dagestani, a cousin of UFC Hall of Famer Khabib Nurmagomedov.

How you view the rematch between Dvalishvili and O’Malley likely depends on how much you buy into the injury to the then-champ ahead of the pair’s first fight. If O’Malley was injured enough to seriously detract from his performance, than perhaps UFC 316 will yield drastically different results.

In the co-main event on Saturday, it’s Kayla Harrison getting her first shot at UFC gold, opposite women’s bantamweight champ Julianna Pena. Pena is on her second reign as 135lb champ in the UFC; her first ended without a successful title defense, after winning the title from Amanda Nunes then losing it back to the women’s GOAT.

Given Harrison’s Olympic pedigree and status as a two-time PFL champ, many are expecting to see Pena’s night end in similar circumstances at UFC 316. Is the champ being overlooked? Read on to see how we feel the night will play out.

Writer / Fight	Luque vs. Holland	Bautista vs. Mix	Gastelum vs. Pyfer	Pena vs. Harrison	Dvalishvili vs. O'Malley
Eddie Law (59-34)
Alex Behunin (59-34)
Mathis Desjardins (57-36)
Patrick McCorry (50-33)
Brett Cagle (56-37)
Chris Prawdzik (48-33)
Jay Anderson (55-38)
Cade Morehouse (48-33)
Ryan Quinn (6-2)

First up – just three of nine writers responding are siding with Sean O’Malley in his rematch with Merab Dvalishvili. O’Malley is, with most sources of such information, a moderate underdog in the fight, so that’s not entirely surprising. As for Pena vs. Harrison, all nine members of our team are leaning towards Kayla Harrison earning a UFC championship — and perhaps lining up a showdown with Amanda Nunes as a result, assuming “The Lioness” follows through on plans to end her retirement.

Of note, the debuting former Bellator bantamweight champ Patchy Mix also took a clean sweep with our crew, as every writer responding is choosing him to get past Mario Bautista. Kevin Holland and Joe Pyfer are also decently sized favorites in their fights.

The post UFC 316: Dvalishvili vs. O’Malley 2 Main Card Staff Picks appeared first on Cageside Press.

In the main event, Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O’Malley run things back, a rematch of their UFC 306 encounter last year. Since then, O’Malley has been out of action, while Dvalishvili made the first successful defense of his title, against Umar Nurmagomedov.

In the co-headliner, the women’s bantamweight crown is up for grabs as Kayla Harrison, two-time Judo gold medalist at the Olympics and two-time PFL champ, challenges Julianna Pena.

Weigh-ins for UFC 316 take place Friday in Newark, New Jersey take place on Friday, June 6, 2025 starting at 9AM ET, 6AM PT. Full results can be found below.

Only one fighter was heavy on Friday morning — very heavy. That was Ariane da Silva, who came in six pounds over the non-title flyweight limit for her fight with Wang Cong. Other other fighters successfully made weight.

UFC 316: Dvalishvili vs. O’Malley 2 Weigh-In Results

Main card

Bantamweight: Merab Dvalishvili (c) (134) vs. Sean O’Malley (135) – for the UFC bantamweight championship
Women’s Bantamweight: Julianna Peña (c) (135) vs. Kayla Harrison (135) – for the UFC women’s bantamweight championship
Middleweight: Kelvin Gastelum (185) vs. Joe Pyfer (185)
Bantamweight: Mario Bautista (135) vs. Patchy Mix (135)
Welterweight: Vicente Luque (170) vs. Kevin Holland (170.1)

Preliminary card

Flyweight: Bruno Gustavo da Silva (125) vs. Joshua Van (125)
Light Heavyweight: Azamat Murzakanov (205) vs. Brendson Ribeiro (205)
Heavyweight: Serghei Spivac (251) vs. Waldo Cortes-Acosta (265)
Welterweight: Khaos Williams (170) vs. Andreas Gustafsson (170)

Early preliminary card

Women’s Flyweight: Ariane da Silva (132)* vs. Wang Cong (125)
Featherweight: Jeka Saragih (145) vs. Yoo Joo-sang (145)
Lightweight: Quillan Salkilld (156) vs. Yanal Ashmouz (155)
Lightweight: MarQuel Mederos (155) vs. Mark Choinski (155)

* Ariane da Silva weighed in six pounds heavy for her flyweight fight with Wang Cong

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Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O’Malley headline the Pay-Per-View event in Newark, New Jersey, a rematch of their UFC 306 title fight, which saw Georgian Dvalishvili dethrone O’Malley to claim gold. Since then, Dvalishvili has successfully defended his title against Umar Nurmagomedov, while O’Malley has sat on the sidelines, healing up from a torn labrum and landing a title shot more on name value than merit.

That doesn’t seem to bother Dvalishvili much, who has said he wants to defeat the “Suga Show” fighter without any excuse of injury or anything else being in play.

Still, the build-up between the two has been respectful this time out. No trash talk. O’Malley has called his foe the greatest bantamweight of all time. Dvalishvili is much happier in comparison to his fight with Nurmagomedov, who he repeatedly called disrespectful.

That’s in stark contrast to the UFC 316 co-main event, where Julianna Pena, the UFC’s reigning women’s bantamweight champion, has thrown the kitchen sink, verbally, at challenge Kayla Harrison. Pena has gone as far to question whether Harrison is a clean athlete, despite her having been drug tested thoroughly during her collegiate career, Olympic run, and in the UFC.

Harrison, a two-time gold medalist in Judo and two-time PFL champion, has taken it all in stride, but she’s never been one who’s afraid to bite back. Which, when it comes to sound bytes, has at least given the UFC some promotional ammunition.

UFC 316 will host it’s pre-fight press conference on Thursday, June 5, 2025. Catch that above starting at 5PM ET, 2PM PT.

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“It was told to me that I’m a six-to-one underdog. Being a six-to-one underdog as a champion is very disrespectful, number one,” Peña told Cageside Press at her media day scrum on Wednesday.

“Number two, everybody’s counting out, you know? Of six people only one of them thinks that I’m going to win the fight. Since you think I’m going to lose in five seconds and you think that I’m already out of this fight then I have nothing to lose and everything to gain.”

It’s odd for Peña (11-5) to be that much of an underdog as champion, but also have a mindset that she has nothing to lose. The title, the status, her spot in the division are all up for grabs.

Still, if Vegas really believes she’s that much of an underdog, maybe she has a point.

“I’m obsessed with the process not so much concerned about the outcome. She is in a position where she has to, she should, and you better, and it’s already done. Those are the kinds of limits that she’s putting on herself,” Peña said of her opponent at UFC 316.

“The reality is that when you put that much pressure on yourself, and when you’re so focused on ‘you have to beat her in 10 seconds’ and it doesn’t happen, that can kind of play into your mentality and the way that you fight.”

“When you work so hard, and I’ve been fighting for the promotion since 2013, when you work so hard to get to climb the mountain to UFC gold, and you’re finally at the top of the heap, this is what comes with that territory,” she said.

“I have an opportunity, I have an obligation as UFC champion, to promote my fight and to get people interested in watching me fight. These are the opportunities that I was fighting so hard for. It’s something that comes very naturally for me because this is what I’ve been building towards in my career my entire life.”

Harrison has been on a one-way road to the title since entering the UFC, and hasn’t been quiet about wanting a matchup with Peña.

“She said it’s going to be a brawl I guess I’ll give her what she wants,” she said.

“No, I see the fight playing out with me getting my hand raised. I don’t know how, I don’t know when, I just know that I’m very dangerous everywhere.”

The biggest fight since her bouts against MMA legend Amanda Nunes is upon her at UFC 316 on Saturday night. Peña might be the champ, but she’s definitely feeling the disrespect of the odds going into it.

“Everybody’s already counting me out,” she said.

“When you put me in a position of nothing to lose and everything to gain, that makes me a very dangerous woman.”

Watch the entire media day scrum with Julianna Peña above. She defends her title against Kayla Harrison at UFC 316 on Saturday night.

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In fact, Merab and O’Malley were mostly pleasant, with the bantamweight champ admitting that the doll was just a joke, and expecting a more motivated, improved O’Malley in their rematch this June.

No, it was the co-headlining pair, women’s bantamweight champion Julianna Pena and Kayla Harrison, who went at each other, verbally anyway.

Pena, not known for having the coolest of heads, fired the first shots, suggesting Harrison had ducked women’s MMA legend Cris Cyborg by leaving the PFL to sign on with the UFC. That didn’t exactly get the crowd on the champ’s side.

“I think at the end of the day it was very apparent that she was ducking Cris Cyborg in the PFL. I don’t know anyone that would pour that much money into one specific person like Donn Davis [PFL Founder] to have her as the face of his brand, only to have her not fulfill her contract with the PFL.”

“She was running from Cris Cyborg, everybody knows that, and of course because she had such a big name there she was able to jump the line in front of all these other women that have put in so much time and effort into making this bantamweight division great. So do I understand it? Of course. The machine in a money maker. If it don’t make money, it don’t make sense. At the end of the day, this fight makes sense and that’s why it’s being done.”

Harrison was quick to point out that not only was she not ducking anyone, she had come to the UFC to fight the best. “I’m not ducking anybody, I’m not running from anybody. I came to the UFC because it’s the best organization in the world. And according to that, you should be the best fighter in the world. And on June 7, we’re going to find out.”

There’s been clear animosity between the two bantamweights ever since Harrison arrived in the UFC, with talk of her being a future champ seemingly aggravating a fighter now on her second reign with the title. And that has Harrison reveling in the opportunity to get in the cage with her rival.

“I’m getting paid to have fun right now,” Harrison exclaimed. “I’m getting paid to put an elbow right through her skull.”

Pena would respond with digs about Harrison’s weight cut, questioning her ability to make the 135lb limit without the non-title grace pound. Then, there were comments about the quality of Harrison’s competition. “You’re fighting a bunch of grandmas that are ready for the freaking wheelchair.”

“First I’m ducking Cyborg, now I’m fighting Grandmas? Which is it?” Harrison shot back.

There’s no need for a complete trash talk rundown, but of note was that retired women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes, considered the GOAT of women’s MMA and the woman who finished Cris Cyborg, was in attendance. It’s long been believed that a fight with Harrison might lure “The Lioness” out of retirement. UFC President and CEO Dana White believes she retired too soon, after walking away from the sport in 2023 following a win at UFC 289.

While Pena is 1-1 with Nunes, it’s the Harrison fight that would no doubt make dollars and sense for the UFC, to borrow Pena’s earlier line.

The post Pena, Harrison Verbally Spar at First UFC 316 Press Conference appeared first on Cageside Press.

 

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“UFC 316 is at the Prudential Center in New Jersey June 7th, and the main event is Merab vs. Sugar Sean O’Malley,” said White on Instagram live.

“Co-main event! Women’s bantamweight champion Julianna Peña’s taking on Kayla Harrison.”

Dvalishvili (19-4) took the title off O’Malley at Noche UFC last September in the main event. Dvalishvili had his way with O’Malley in that fight, and then turned Umar Nurmagomedov away in his first title defense.

O’Malley (18-2) will get his first fight in 2025 after losing the title to Dvalishvili last year. The former bantamweight champion will attempt to become a two-time UFC champion in New Jersey.

In the co-main event Harrison will get her first shot at UFC gold in a much anticipated bout against Peña.

Peña (11-5) fights for the first time since winning the title against Raquel Pennington at UFC 307 last October in a close split-decision victory. She’ll look to continue her second run as champion at UFC 316.

Harrison (18-1) hopes to make good on her goal of winning a UFC title for the first time in her promotional run. Harrison made her debut against Holly Holm at UFC 300 where she took the victory via second round submission. She then went on to defeat Ketlen Vieira via decision at UFC 307.

UFC 316 takes place at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ on June 7 on PPV. The card, as of now, looks as follows:

Merab Dvalishvili vs. Sean O’Malley 2 – UFC bantamweight title
Julianna Peña vs. Kayla Harrison – UFC women’s bantamweight title
Mario Bautista vs. Chito Vera
Johnny Walker vs. Azamat Murzakanov
Bruno Silva vs. Joshua Van
Serghei Spivac vs. Shamil Gaziev

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Alex Pereira

Alex Pereira put on one of the best performances of his career Saturday, when he finished Khalil Rountree Jr. in the fourth round to retain the UFC light heavyweight belt. Rountree Jr. came into the bout with the #8 ranking next to his name.

Pereira is now 9-1 in the UFC since joining in 2021. He has only been beaten by Israel Adesanya in that time period. The only fight that makes sense for Alex at 205lbs. would be Magomed Ankalaev who is ranked at #2 at light heavyweight. Ankalaev is currently slated to fight #5 ranked, Aleksandar Rakic, at UFC 308 on October 26th. Ankalaev  is on a 12-fight unbeaten streak.

Alex’s next fight: Magomed Ankalaev vs. Aleksandar Rakic winner 

Julianna Pena

Julianna Pena shocked a lot of fans with her split decision victory over Raquel Pennington to win the UFC women’s bantamweight belt in the co-main event of UFC 307. Pena has fought just five times since mid 2019 and has gone 3-2 in that time period.

Pena was forced to withdraw from her trilogy bout with Amanda Nunes last year. Nunes has since retired so that bout is off of the table. Pena should fight Kayla Harrison who won earlier on in the night. The former Olympian and PFL champ has looked flawless in her UFC career thus far and already holds a #3 ranking next to her name. A more than worthy adversary.

Julianna’s next fight: Kayla Harrison 

Mario Bautista

Mario Bautista executed a flawless game plan in order to edge out a split decision over Jose Aldo at UFC 307. Bautista entered the fight ranked at #11 in the UFC’s bantamweight division while his opponent was ranked at #10. Bautista is now 9-2 in the UFC. He is currently riding a seven-fight win streak featuring three finishes. His only losses are to Cory Sandhagen and most recently, Trevin Jones, in 2021.

Bautista’s next fight should be against Marlon Vera. Chito is currently ranked at #7 in the UFC’s bantamweight division and has won just one of his last four fights. Chito and Mario also share a common loss in Cory Sandhagen.

Mario’s next fight: Marlon Vera

Roman Dolidze

Roman Dolidze forced a TKO victory against Kevin Holland between the first and second rounds at UFC 307. Dolidze has now won two in a row since losing a majority decision to #4 ranked middleweight, Nassourdine Imavov, in February. Roman entered the fight as the #10 ranked UFC middleweight while his opponent was the #15 ranked welterweight.

Dolidze’s next fight should be against Gregory Rodrigues. Gregory is 7-2 in the UFC and has won his last three fights, two inside the distance. Robocop’s last time out was against Christian Leroy Duncan at UFC 304 in July. That would make for a violent fight thanks to Robocop’s fight style.

Roman’s next fight: Gregory Rodrigues 

Kayla Harrison

Kayla Harrison secured a hard-fought unanimous decision victory in the opening fight of the main card of UFC 307 against Ketlen Vieira. Harrison is now 2-0 in the UFC after her first-round finish of Holly Holm at back UFC 300 in her promotional debut.

Now 18-1 as a pro, the former Olympian should undoubtedly be fast tracked to a title shot. She should fight Julianna Pena for the belt in her next fight whenever she recovers from her extreme weight cut and is ready to schedule that title shot. Pretty easy one to make for Harrison.

Kayla’s next fight: Julianna Pena 

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