Fight Facts: UFC 306 ‘Noche UFC: O’Malley vs. Dvalishvili’

Fight Facts is a breakdown of all of the interesting information and Octagon oddities on every card, with some puns, references and portmanteaus to keep things fun. These deep stat dives delve into the numbers, providing historical context and telling the stories behind those numbers.

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TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC FIGHTS: 7,844
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 705

The Ultimate Fighting Championship pumped tens of millions of dollars into its spectacular at the Sphere in Las Vegas, only to forget that it cannot control the quality of its matchups. While the visuals were nothing short of spectacular and an Emmy may be in line for the production team, the 10-fight card hardly dazzled outside of a few spots. Noche UFC, also known as UFC 306, featured a headlining performance so strong it deserves a chef’s kiss, the unsettled-yet-settled trilogy between flyweight champs and a forehead gash rivaling Massive Head Wound Harry.

Spheretastic: Staged at the newly constructed Sphere, UFC 306 served as the first live sporting event in the venue’s history. While the NHL Draft previously was held in the arena, no hockey was played that day.

Maybe Mexico City Next Time: Running the event on Mexican Independence Day, seven bouts featured Mexican-born combatants against foreign adversaries. Ronaldo Rodriguez is the only one of the seven to pick up a win at night’s end.

When I Was 22, I Got Involved with the Russian Mafia: Picking up a relatively one-sided decision over Sean O'Malley to claim the bantamweight throne, Merab Dvalishvili became the second fighter of Georgian descent and the first born in the nation to hoist UFC gold. Ilia Topuria was the first.

Grinding Work: Winner of 10 fights at the UFC’s 135-pound division, Dvalishvili is now one of nine fighters in company history to earn at least that many victories in that weight class. Aljamain Sterling’s 14 sit atop the pack.

What’s a Couple of Kisses Between Good Friends: Officially landing six takedowns on “Suga Sean” while connecting with 214 total strikes, Dvalishvili further padded his divisional lead in those categories. His 1,950 strikes—and a few kisses—are now 280 above Sterling’s no. 2 spot, while he holds 29 more takedowns than the next closest fighter, Ricky Simon.

The Machine: By beating O’Malley on the scorecards, Dvalishvili set or tied the following records: the longest win streak at bantamweight (10) and the most decision wins (nine, with Raphael Assuncao). “The Machine” holds the new total for the second-most takedowns landed, with 85.

Give It Back: Exacting revenge on Alexa Grasso in a clear-cut decision, Valentina Shevchenko became the fifth woman to ever earn her UFC belt back after losing it. Rose Namajunas, Carla Esparza, Amanda Nunes and Weili Zhang all achieved this, but none ever held the 125-pound strap.

10 With a Bullet: Shevchenko is the new winningest woman in UFC flyweight history by beating Grasso. “Bullet” is the first among all women’s flyweights to amass 10 victories.

Champshenko: Nine of those 10 wins at 125 pounds for Shevchenko came in championship affairs. This puts her two behind Nunes for the most victories in UFC women’s title tilts.

Great Kickboxer, Better Wrestler: Grounding Grasso on eight separate occasions in their 25-minute engagement, Shevchenko further put distance between herself and the rest of the weight class in takedowns landed. Her 47 more than doubled the next closest combatants of Gillian Robertson, Andrea Lee or Miranda Maverick (21 apiece).

From Replacement to Challenger: To get past Brian Ortega via decision, Diego Lopes had to shatter his single-fight significant strike record set in the Octagon. Before Saturday, he had never needed more than 49 to get the job done. He scored 106 on “T-City.”

A Banger’s Banger: En route to a “Fight of the Night”-winning performance, Esteban Ribovics had to fight all three rounds to skirt past Daniel Zellhuber. In doing so, his finish rate fell to 86%.

Says Mean Words: Dating back six years, Rodriguez has fought beyond the first round in all but one of his 12 appearances. Rodriguez required the full 15 minutes to get past Ode Osbourne.

Shredding Irene: As she has done in her entire UFC run, Norma Dumont had to hear the final bell to get her hand raised over Irene Aldana. All eight of her wins in the Octagon, and 10 of 12 overall, have come at the hands of the judges.

A Cut That Lasts a Lifetime: While she did not prevail, Aldana entered into her 13th fight in the UFC’s bantamweight category. Nunes (15) and Raquel Pennington (17) are the only two who have fought more often at 135 pounds.

Nice Knockout: Ignacio Bahamondes cleaned Manuel Torres’ clock with a fade-back right hand and follow-up ground-and-pound. In doing so, the Chilean boosted his overall finish rate to 75%, with an even 69% of his wins coming via strikes.

I Can Do That Again: Notching the second submission of her career, Ketlen Souza put Yazmin Jauregui to sleep with a rear-naked choke in the first frame. The Brazilian first tapped a foe out with a rear-naked choke in March 2018.

A Van Down by the Sphere: Pushing Edgar Chairez to the distance, Joshua Van triumphed on short notice. In every fight where Chairez has gone to a decision, he has lost.

Little Chiwiwi: As a massive -1100 betting favorite, Raul Rosas Jr. settled for a decision win over Qileng Aori. It marked the second time he needed the judges to get the victory, lowering his finish rate to 80%.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC 306, O’Malley had never lost on the scorecards (20 fights), Torres had never been knocked out (17 fights) and Jauregui had never been submitted (12 fights).

Mexico Por Favor: In the spirit of Mexican Independence Day, two competitors selected “Por Mi Mexico” by Lefty Sm & Santa Fe Klan for their walkouts. While Dvalishvili tacked it on at the end and picked up a win, Torres was not so lucky.

Keep the Camera on Roy: With Roy Jones Jr. rapping to it in the crowd, Ribovics selected “Can’t Be Touched” by Body Head Bangerz. It remains one of the most successful walkout tunes in organizational history, tied for the second-most recorded victories with Ted Nugent’s Stranglehold.