Merab Dvalishvili Makes Sean O'Malley Tap Out In The Third Round At UFC 316

WOW - after a close first fight at the sphere, Merab Dvalishvili left no doubt this time and made fairly easy work of Sean O’Malley, submitting him in the third round. It was pretty close before then, but Merab was clearly in control the entirety of the fight; the best thing I can say about O'Malley's performance was that he defended a few deep takedowns. Not much was working for him offensively. That's just what fighting against Merab does to people, though - he's the machine. Shockingly, this was the first choke victory of his career and only the second finish of his UFC career!

Thank god this railing didn't collapse into the Champ pre-fight, cause that woulda been a real bummer....

We'll see what happens next, but I wouldn't be surprised if we see Suga move up a weight class after this. Merab will likely defend against Cory Sandhagen next, which should be a hell of a scrap. Overall - a pretty good night of fights from Newark!

We'll be breaking the whole card down on the Spinnin Backfist post-show as soon as I get home so look out for that below....