Fight Facts: UFC 316 ‘Dvalishvili vs. O’Malley 2’

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: 8,210
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 735

The Ultimate Fighting Championship did not disappoint despite featuring a fight card chock full of mismatches according to the betting lines. New storylines birthed from both championship matches give fans and pundits plenty to discuss over the next week. UFC 316 brought about a submission never seen in a UFC championship bout, an arm-wrenching bad time that also made some history and a striker who beat a long-armed sneaky grappler at his own game.

All That Sacrifice For Nothing: To defend his bantamweight title, Merab Dvalishvili tapped Sean O'Malley with a north-south choke towards the end of the third round. His sub is not only the first of its type in the UFC since 2017, but the first to occur in a main event as well as a UFC title tilt.

A Streaker’s Streak: Earning his 13th straight win by finishing O’Malley, Dvalishvili became the ninth fighter in organizational history to amass such a win streak. He is the first man at 135 pounds to reach this distinction, although one bout on this run came at 140 pounds.

Chasing My Buddy: With 12 wins under his belt at the UFC’s bantamweight division, Dvalishvili is now two victories behind teammate and all-time leader Aljamain Sterling. It was his first submission in the Octagon.

More Challenges Await: Having notched two successful title defenses, the Georgian is the fourth undisputed bantamweight king to ever reach multiple defenses of his throne. Dominick Cruz, T.J. Dillashaw and Sterling were the first—Renan Barao also did this, but with an interim belt.

Fueled by Something: En route to victory, the champion grounded O’Malley five times. “The Machine” added to his company-leading total, amassing 97 throughout his UFC tenure thus far.

Can’t Handle De Riddum: In his time on Dana White's Contender Series and his UFC stint thus far, O’Malley has yet to win a fight in which his opponent landed more significant strikes. He has been outlanded on four occasions: twice against Dvalishvili, once against Marlon Vera and once in his no contest with Pedro Munhoz.

Gold with a Side of Gold: Wresting the women’s bantamweight throne from Julianna Pena, Kayla Harrison became the second Olympic gold medalist to win a UFC belt. Henry Cejudo was the first.

Taking Home a Souvenir: Harrison performed a kimura on Pena, accounting for just the second in UFC women’s divisional history. Erin Blanchfield’s kimura on Molly McCann at UFC 281 in 2022 marked the first.

Easy Takings: In three UFC outings, Harrison has already landed two submissions. This places her one behind women’s bantamweight leader Ronda Rousey, while tied with many names including Pena and Amanda Nunes.

Two’s Enough: After three wins in the Octagon, Harrison has landed exactly two takedowns in each. She grounded Holm twice, then Vieira and now Pena.

Py in the Sky: Needing all three rounds to get past Kelvin Gastelum, Joe Pyfer settled for getting his hand raised by decision. It is just the second win in this fashion since turning pro in 2018, with the last one coming in his sophomore effort.

Out of the Mix: Mario Bautista finds himself winner of eight in a row after picking up the nod on all three scorecards over Patrick “Patchy” Mix. Five of his seven career decision wins have come during this win streak.

Brabo on Brabo Violence: Putting a stamp on his $50K-winning performance, Kevin Holland hit a brabo choke on Vicente Luque. The Brazilian currently holds the UFC record for the most brabo chokes landed with four, although Holland notched his third by tapping “The Silent Assassin.”

A Van Ran Over That Bulldog: Joshua Van took Bruno “Bulldog” Silva behind the woodshed to notch the late stoppage via strikes. In the flyweight division, there are only men who have procured more knockouts in the UFC thus far than Van—Joseph Benavidez’s five reign supreme.

Fight More: Keeping his perfect record intact, Azamat Murzakanov pounded out Brendson Ribeiro in the opening frame. While it marked the first time that he earned a win in Round 1 since 2021, the finish rate of the K Dojo Warrior Tribe athlete rose to an even 80%.

Please Stop Hitting Me: Ribeiro ended up tapping to strikes before referee Mike Beltran could stop the action. Bill Algeo is the last fighter in the UFC to surrender to strikes, as Doo Ho Choi dropped the bomb on him at UFC on ESPN 60 in 2024.

There’s Waldo: Five of Waldo Cortes-Acosta’s seven wins with the promotion thus far have come at the hands of the judges, following his three-round triumph over Serghei Spivac. Joining the roster in 2022, the former baseball pitcher is already tied for the third-most wins by decision in UFC heavyweight history. All those names distantly trail Marcin Tybura’s eight and Andrei Arlovski’s 12.

Wanna Know How She Got Those Scars? After 15 minutes of action, “The Joker” Cong Wang emerged the victor over the heavy Ariane Lipski da Silva. The Brazilian missed weight by six pounds, sustained a heavy fine and dropped the win percentage this year of UFC fighters that missed weight to .167.

From Zombie to Zombie: In his organizational debut, “Zombie Jr.” Joo Sang Yoo faceplanted Jeka Saragih in 28 seconds. The Korean newcomer has earned four of his nine wins—without a loss—by knockout, all in the opening stanza.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC 316, O’Malley had never been submitted (21 fights), Spivac (22 fights), Kalinn Williams (19 fights) and Saragih (18 fights) had never dropped consecutive outings and Mark Choinski had never been defeated (eight fights).

Pandering or Strategy: For a large portion of his time in the UFC, O’Malley walked out to some version of Lupe Fiasco’s “Superstar.” Instead, perhaps because the U.S. President was in attendance, “Suga” made the wide right turn to instead pick “God Bless the USA” by Lee Greenwood. He lost by stoppage.

Oh the Nostalgia: Going with something untraditional for his entrance music, Pyfer switched his selection to “Spring Love” by freestyle singer Stevie B. He is not the first athlete to select this song, but the first came in 2012 when Cristiano Marcello snagged the same tune ahead of his win against Reza Madadi at UFC 153.