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This weekend will see Noche UFC 306 take place at Las Vegas' Sphere. In the headliner, Sean O'Malley will defend his bantamweight title against Merab Dvalishvili.
Sean O'Malley vs. Merab Dvalishvili is definitely one of the most intriguing title fights the UFC have put together in recent years.
The fight feels like it could go either way, and it is set to shine a bigger spotlight on the bantamweight division.
Prior to Noche UFC 306, then, here are five interesting facts about Sean O'Malley vs. Merab Dvalishvili.
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#5 Sean O'Malley vs. Merab Dvalishvili will only be the 11th time a bantamweight title fight has headlined a UFC pay-per-view
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The UFC's male bantamweight division has often been treated badly by the promotion since its inauguration back in 2011.
Often, we've seen 135 pound title bouts relegated to co-headliner status, or used to headline Fight Night events, rather than major pay-per-views.
This can be seen by the fact that this weekend's bantamweight title bout between Sean O'Malley and Merab Dvalishvili will only be the 11th time a male 135 pound title fight has headlined a UFC pay-per-view.
It is worth noting, though, that this one will be the fourth time that the bantamweight title has headlined a pay-per-view since the start of 2023, and the third time in a row that O'Malley has featured in the main event.
That suggests that unlike former champions such as Renan Barao and TJ Dillashaw, the promotion really believes in 'Sugar' not only as the titleholder, but as a major star, too.
If he can continue to stay at the top of the division, then, he could help to usher in a 'Golden Age' of sorts at 135 pounds.
#4 Sean O'Malley can draw level with some all-time greats with a successful title defense
Many of the UFC's weight classes have a widely recognised 'GOAT', with the likes of Georges St-Pierre (welterweight), Demetrious Johnson (flyweight) and Jon Jones (light-heavyweight) standing above the rest.
It's a little trickier to decide who the promotion's bantamweight GOAT is. If you go by the number of successful consecutive title defenses, though, Aljamain Sterling stands above the rest.
'The Funk Master' defended his crown successfully on three occasions, meaning every other bantamweight champ after him will be chasing that record.
Sean O'Malley already has one successful defense to his name, beating Marlon Vera earlier this year. If he can beat Merab Dvalishvili this weekend, he'll take his number to two.
Despite his title reign still feeling relatively new, two defenses would surprisingly draw him level with a handful of 135 pound greats.
Both Dominick Cruz - the inaugural champion - and TJ Dillashaw were able to defend their titles on two successive occasions before losing them.
If 'Sugar' can climb to their level, he'll be in pretty lofty company. Two more wins would make him a bonafide legend.
#3 Merab Dvalishvili can become the UFC's second Georgian champion
To date, the UFC has had champions from a total of 19 different countries. Nations like the USA and Brazil have had multiple titleholders, while seven different countries have had just one champion.
Of course, with the fluid nature of the modern world, and the way in which people emigrate between countries, some of the UFC's champions have essentially represented more than one country.
This means that while many fans might believe Merab Dvalishvili could become the promotion's first Georgian champion, this won't technically be the case.
The first UFC champion to hail from Georgia is in fact current featherweight kingpin Ilia Topuria, who dethroned Alexander Volkanovski earlier this year.
However, while 'El Matador' has Georgian parents, he was actually born in Germany and fights out of Spain.
'The Machine', on the other hand, was born in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, and didn't move to the US until he was 21, to pursue his professional MMA career.
Don't be surprised, then, if Dvalishvili is billed as the promotion's first Georgian champ - even if that isn't completely true.
#2 Both Sean O'Malley and Merab Dvalishvili last suffered a loss in controversial circumstances
Both Sean O'Malley and Merab Dvalishvili will be riding lengthy unbeaten runs into their bantamweight title clash at Noche UFC 306 this weekend.
O'Malley last suffered a defeat in the summer of 2020 and has won six of his next seven bouts, with the other going to a No Contest.
Dvalishvili, meanwhile, is riding the bantamweight division's longest winning streak, as he has come out on top in his last ten fights.
Interestingly, though, both men suffered their most recent defeat under highly controversial circumstances.
'Sugar' went down to Marlon Vera in 2020, but the bout saw him suffer an unfortunate nerve injury to his right foot that caused his movement to be hampered. This led directly to his first round TKO loss.
While the defeat was still decisive, O'Malley has openly stated that he doesn't see the fight as a loss.
Dvalishvili's last defeat was even more puzzling. 'The Machine' faced off with Ricky Simon back in April 2018, and appeared to be winning the fight comfortably, until late in the third round.
At that point, Simon grabbed onto a guillotine choke, and managed to roll over into a mounted position. Despite the hold looking tight, Dvalishvili was clearly moving his legs to signal he was still conscious, and got up - albeit with assistance - after the final buzzer.
Despite this, referee Liam Kerrigan decided that the Georgian had been choked unconscious before the fight had ended, and declared the bout a technical submission win in favor of Simon.
The call was a baffling one, and even more baffling was the fact that the New Jersey State Athletic Commission decided to uphold the result when Dvalishvili's team appealed.
Realistically, then, there's a fair argument that the loss shouldn't count against 'The Machine', which would mean he'd be on an eleven fight win streak coming into Noche UFC 306.
#1 Sean O'Malley can equal a UFC record with a knockout
There are still a handful of question marks around Sean O'Malley, but there are certainly no questions around his knockout power.
'Sugar' appears to carry the punching power of a fighter far larger than 135 pounds, and if he connects cleanly, then his opponent tends to go out.
It shouldn't come as a surprise, then, that a win for O'Malley this weekend would allow him to equal the UFC record for the most knockouts in the history of the bantamweight division.
Right now, 'Sugar' has six knockouts to his name in the octagon, while the divisional record is held by former champ TJ Dillashaw, who scored seven.
Interestingly, though, the majority of Dillashaw's knockouts, including his famous ones over Renan Barao and Cody Garbrandt, came via flurries of strikes.
This sets O'Malley apart from him, as 'Sugar' has tended to turn out the lights of foes like Eddie Wineland and Aljamain Sterling with one clean shot.
Therefore, even if he can only equal Dillashaw's record this weekend, there's an argument that Sean O'Malley is the most concussive striker in UFC bantamweight history.
