At UFC 306 noche, under the roof of the technological marvel that is ‘The Sphere’ in Las Vegas, Merab Dvalishvili made headlines. And that was not just for his incredible win but also for a little “romance” in the Octagon!

Taking on Sean O’Malley, arguably one of the best strikers of the UFC these days, for the bantamweight title, the Georgian made a statement with his performance inside the Octagon. Dominating ‘Suga’ for all 5 rounds, Dvalishvili seemingly took him down at will and kept up a suffocating pace throughout the fight, which won him the title via unanimous decision. But even amid the biggest fight of his career so far, Dvalisvhili injected some of his quirky humor into the match.

Picture this: The clock ticking down in the second round, both fighters locked against the fence in a fierce grapple. With just seconds left, instead of finishing strong, Merab Dvalishvili playfully kissed Sean O’Malley’s back. Then, as if it were just another day at the office, he released O’Malley and casually walked away. The result?

Referee Herb Dean, who saw all of this go down, quickly intervened, but not before ‘Suga’ made his opponent pay by landing a solid punch as the bell rang to mark the end of the round! Surprised? So was the entire arena and fans watching all over the globe. In a recent interview, the veteran UFC referee shared his thoughts on the bizarre moment at ‘The Sphere’!

Dean, in a conversation with Helen Yee, was asked about the incident. He responded by stating, “That does fall under unsportsmanlike conduct. Yeah”, revealing why he was forced to step in. When Yee asked if the moment was taking the “love letter to Mexico” too far at UFC 306 noche, the referee responded with a chuckle and stated, “Yeah. It was a little bit romantic… A little too much romance. Yep.”

On the same note, Dean made it clear that moving forward, “Definitely. No romance” in the Octagon! But what was the reason behind the kiss? Dvalishvili later explained at the UFC 306 post-fight press conference, “I wanted to make just a little fun of him and make him—I don’t hate the guy, just make fun of him, but at same time, give him a little kiss to show that I’m dominant. I control this fight, I break you.”

While Dean’s response is pretty funny, he also faced some backlash for the way he officiated the fight throughout. The fight had a weird start when Herb Dean stopped the action around 20 seconds in to warn O’Malley’s corner for excessive coaching. Tim Welch, Merab’s coach, later admitted that he was calling instructions to Dvalishvili to be ‘patient’, which is against the rules and does come under excessive coaching.

Explaining his actions, Dean said, “There is a rule that uh the seconds are not to interfere in the fight and that’s including you know uh trying to influence the referee, for one thing, they even specify that but you definitely can’t try to influence the uh the other fighter or distract them. Your job is to coach your fighter and so yeah my job is to do something about it.” But a bigger controversy ensued for his calls for “work” from Merab Dvalishvili multiple times.

A lot of voices in the online sphere felt as though Dean was seemingly favoring O’Malley throughout the fight, with former champion TJ Dillashaw stating on an episode of the ‘Jaxxon Podcast’, “I thought it was very weird, it was almost like he had money on O’Malley” In the interview Dean also clarified that.

“I can tell you what I tell the fighters in the rules briefing. I tell them anytime I’m interfering or intervening, I’m gonna talk to you first like if I’m gonna stand it up and when I’m gonna say first, ‘Let’s work’ I usually clap and what I’m expecting from them is not busy work, I’ve specified. I’m looking for effort to finish the fight, so you’re either to posture to where you can potentially throw fight-ending attacks or advance your position. Those rules are there to make our sport look the way we want it to look,” Dean said.

But despite all that, Dean echoed Dana white as he declared that Noche UFC was the greatest sporting event ever, and he really enjoyed it. And in that spectacle, Merab’s focus and dominance throughout the fight spoke louder than any kiss ever could. So what’s next for the new bantamweight king? In a recent interview, he aimed ‘Team Khabib’!

Dvalishvili fires a shot at Umar Nurmagomedov for his ‘privilege’ in the UFC  

With the win over Sean O’Malley, Merab Dvalishvili has now improved his win streak to 11 in the UFC! Impressive, right? Even more so when you consider the fact that he has beaten names like Jose Aldo, Petr Yan, and Henry Cejudo, all former champions before he dominated O’Malley at UFC 306. With such a stellar resume before he got his title shot, Dvalishvili isn’t a fan of Umar Nurmagomedov’s claim to be next up in line for the 135 lbs. Belt.

Speaking on former UFC star Jake Shield’s ‘Fight Back’ podcast, the Georgian stated, “I keep saying he doesn’t deserve it because he has only fought one guy from the Top 15… It’s easy to market this guy (because of his last name) … Umar is a new challenge, and guys like this make me work harder.”

But if not Umar Nurmagomedov, the current no.2 ranked bantamweight, then who? Dvalishvili shared, “I think the most deserving guy is (Deiveson) Figueiredo”, the former flyweight champion who has been on a tear through the bantamweight division since moving up. However, the Georgian made it clear that the UFC and fans want him to fight Nurmagomedov and he will be happy to oblige, despite his issues with ‘Team Khabib’. But he came up with a bigger allegation against Umar.

According to what Merab told heavywgt MMA, Umar gets undue advantage for being Khabib’s cousin. “It’s a little bit heartbroken when you see sometimes when you working hard. I wasn’t sure if I was getting a title fight until two weeks ago… I am not excited for this fight because I know he [Umar] get here easy. He is a good fighter, but he get pushed. It’s like cheating a little bit to get here. I have 12 fights in the UFC. I beat like seven or eight ranked fighters,” Merab said. If this was not enough, Merab also dug up Umar’s nationality.

“Umar actually not from Russia, he is from Dagestan but he still represents Russia,” Merab said in the post UFC 306 press conference. Understandably, that did not sit well with Team Khabib as UFC Lightweight Champion Islam Makhachev fired back. “Merab lives in America, he has no clue what he’s talking about. Dagestan is a part of Russia,” he had quipped. But Merab was not the one to stop there. He reiterated his statements when former UFC fighter, Jake Shields, hosted Merab on his ‘Fight Back’ podcast.

Naming more Dagestani fighters, he further said, “Islam say… we all know that Khabib and Islam they are from Dagestan, Khamzat (Chimaev) is from Chechnya, Movsar Evloev from Ingushetia, all different countries you know, small countries. When somebody ask me, ‘Umar is from Russia’, I say ‘No, Umar not from Russia, he’s from Dagestan, he’s Caucasian, you know’.” According to Islam, these are Merab playing mind games. Are you excited to see Umar capture a UFC title against ‘The Machine’? Or do you think that the Georgian is in for a long and dominant reign? Let us know your thoughts.