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Merab Dvalishvili vs. Sean O'Malley 2, Pena vs. Harrison Title Fights Headline UFC 316

Andrew Peters
Apr 1, 2025
UFC 311: Dvalishvili v Nurmagomedov

Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O'Malley will headline UFC 316 in a bantamweight rematch on June 7, per ESPN's Brett Okamoto.

Dvalishvili and O'Malley last fought at UFC 306 in September, where Dvalishvili claimed the UFC Championship via unanimous decision.

UFC 316 will also feature a matchup between Julianna Peña and Kayla Harrison for the women's bantamweight title.

O'Malley's last fight was the loss against Dvalishvili and he's spent the past few months recovering from hip surgery he underwent in October shortly after the fight. O'Malley came into last year's bout with Dvalishvili with an 18-1 record, looking to defend his bantamweight championship. He had once defended the belt, taking down Marlon Vera via unanimous decision at UFC 299 in March of 2024.

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Dvalishvili had won 10 consecutive fights and made it 11 with his win over O'Malley. Since his win against O'Malley, Dvalishvili defended his bantamweight title with a victory over Umar Nurmagomedov by unanimous decision at UFC 311 in January.

Since 2021, Peña has won the won the bantamweight championship, lost it and regained it. At UFC 269 in December of 2021, Peña took down Amanda Nunes to win the belt for the first time in her career. She then lost the title in July 2022 when Nunes defeated her at UFC 277.

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Peña reclaimed the title at UFC 307 last October when she beat Raquel Pennington.

Harrison made her bantamweight debut last April when she defeated Holly Holm at UFC 300. She stayed undefeated in the division with a win over Ketlen Vieira in October at UFC 307. Now, she'll look to claim her first bantamweight title this summer.

Ex-UFC Champ Cain Velasquez Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison Over 2022 Shooting

Adam Wells
Mar 24, 2025
UFC 200: Tate v Nunes

Former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez has been sentenced to five years in prison stemming from a 2022 shooting in California.

Per Ian Cull of NBC Sports Bay Area, a Santa Clara County court judge sentenced Velasquez on Monday after he pleaded no contest to multiple charges, including attempted murder.

Cull noted the deputy district attorney sought a sentence of 30 years to life, while Velasquez's attorneys asked for time served and probation.

Velasquez was originally arrested and booked for attempted murder after allegedly firing a gun at a car carrying three individuals in February 2022.

One of the people in the car had recently been accused of molesting a relative of Velasquez's. Damian Trujillo of NBC Bay Area cited court documents stating the alleged abuse of Velasquez's relative may have happened "100 times."

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Velasquez wound up shooting the stepfather of the accused man, resulting in non-life-threatening injuries.

In a criminal complaint filed by the Santa Clara County Superior Court (h/t Nolan King of MMA Junkie), Velasquez was formally charged with 10 different counts, including attempted murder, three counts of assault with a firearm and three counts of assault with a deadly weapon.

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Velasquez officially entered his plea of no contest to Judge Arthur Bocanegra at the Santa Clara County Hall of Justice in August 2024. The plea deal allowed a charge of premeditated murder to be dropped, which meant he was no longer subject to a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

The 42-year-old Velasquez is best known for his mixed martial arts career. He went 14-3 in 17 career bouts, winning the UFC heavyweight title twice. He also had a brief stint in WWE, losing to Brock Lesnar in a bout for the WWE championship at Crown Jewel in October 2019.

Video: Sean Brady Beats Leon Edwards By 4th-Round Submission at UFC London

Taylyn Hadley
Mar 22, 2025
UFC Fight Night: Edwards v Brady

Sean Brady defeated Leon Edwards via submission with a guillotine with 1:39 seconds remaining in the fourth round at UFC London.

Brady improved to a professional record of 18-1, while Edwards, from Birmingham, England, dropped to 22-5 on home soil.

Brady took the fight on short notice against the former welterweight champion after Jack Della Maddalena was called up to fight Belal Muhammad for the title in May. The Philadelphia fighter told reporters on Thursday that he aimed to force Edwards into submission after being confident that he could pull off the upset.

"It's not what I see in Leon it's just what I see in myself. If you have a neck I can choke you, Leon has a neck so I'm going to try choke him," Brady said.

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Doing just that, Brady dominated the fight before finishing it in the fourth round, improving his UFC record to 8-1. Following the win, he stated that he believes he deserves a spot in the top three rankings.

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"To be honest, I literally took this fight the day I got out of the hospital with my wife with our newborn baby," Brady told reporters after his victory.. "I knew this was a fight that I could do that in. I know I can do that against anybody in this division. I just showed that against one of the most prestigious champions as of recently, so I think I belong in the top three, top one (of the UFC welterweight rankings)."

Meanwhile, 33-year-old Edwards has lost back-to-back fights for the first time in his 14-year career after suffering his first loss in nearly 10 years last July against Muhammad in his third welterweight title defense.

Dana White: Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall UFC Heavyweight Title Fight 'Going to Happen'

Timothy Rapp
Mar 22, 2025
UFC 309: Jones v Miocic

It appears that a Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall fight for the UFC heavyweight title is inevitable at this point.

"The fight is going to happen," UFC president Dana White said during a Friday interview on TNT Sports (h/t MMA Fighting). "It's just a matter of when now, getting it signed and done. The fight will happen."

"It's going to happen," he added. "It's done but it's not done. Not done enough to sit right here now and announce it and give you a date. But the fight is going to happen. It's just a matter of getting it signed now."

Aspinall has had a long layoff. He last fought at UFC 304 in July, defeating Curtis Blaydes to defend the UFC interim heavyweight crown.

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Jones, 37, fought more recently, knocking out Stipe Miocic at November's UFC 309 to defend his heavyweight title, his record-setting 12th title defense.

There isn't a bigger fight the UFC could schedule in the division, and it sounds as though once the details are sorted, the fight will be happening.

UFC's Jon Jones Signs Contract to Become Co-Owner of Dirty Boxing Championship

Doric Sam
Mar 21, 2025
UFC 309: Jones v Miocic

UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones is taking on a new endeavor in his time away from the Octagon.

Per TMZ, Jones signed a deal to become the co-owner of Dirty Boxing Championship. The promotion was founded last year by a group that includes Jones' longtime managers Abe and Malki Kawa and Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship star Mike Perry.

"I was hooked from the first show. I believe this is going to be a powerhouse of combat sports. I'm proud to sign my name next to it," Jones said.

Dirty Boxing Championship is set to hold its first event, DBX 1, on Saturday. Former UFC stars Yoel Romero and Andrei Arlovski will be featured on the card, with Romero facing Ras Hylton and Arlovski taking on Terrance Hodges. TMZ noted that Jones is expected to be in attendance for the event in Miami.

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Jones defended his UFC heavyweight title with a third-round TKO victory over Stipe Miocic in November.

UFC is hoping to put together a title unification bout between the 37-year-old and interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall, but there hasn't been much progress toward scheduling that fight up to this point.

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