Merab Dvalishvili Just Shut Down The Suga Show And Avenged Aljamain Sterling's Loss

UFC Noche has come to an end - and Merab Dvalishvili is standing tall as the NEW UFC Bantamweight Champion!

Like the co-main event, it wasn't the most exciting fight - but Merab did what he needed to do to secure the victory and avenge Ajlamain Sterling's loss. Nothing he did was necessarily surprising, either; he followed a wrestling-heavy gameplan and pressured consistently. Sean O'Malley just couldn't shut it down, and never found the shot he needed to hurt Dvalishvili.

It almost looked like Merab was hurt with a body shot late in the fifth round, which got the whole crowd on their feet - but O'Malley oddly didn't have the urgency of a man about to lose his championship. He was a bit "off" all night, it seemed, too. I don't know if Suga was just afraid of the takedown threat which made him so trepidatious, but he just never let his hands go once - and his body language was never great.

There were some weird ass moments in this fight, too - Merab asked Herb Dean to stop the fight almost immediately because O'Malley's corner was yelling apparently?

There was that, a strange glove-grab-reset in the second, AND this moment where Merab was kissing O'Malley's back and then thought the round was over and turned his back on Sean....

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Sean O'Malley didn't stick around for a post-fight interview, but I'll be very interested to hear what he says about this loss. I wouldn't be surprised if he claims he was hurt or sick coming into the fight, because I saw a few rumors of that sort this week (with no real credence), but again - he definitely seemed "off" tonight. 

Congrats to Merab tho. Great win and underdog story for the Georgian.