A breakdown of UFC 316 Dvalishvili vs O'Malley 2

 O’Malley vs Dvalishvili

UFC 316 saw the rematch that nobody really asked for, and boy, was it alright. Merab Dvalishvili put on an impressive performance over the newly motivated version of O’Malley. Quitting marijuana and no longer “j’ing the peen”(his own words) was not enough for Suga Sean, as Dvalishvili managed to dominate, getting his first submission victory in the octagon.

O’Malley started off aggressively, using feints to back Merab up to the fence, but eventually found himself startled by Dvalishvili’s own feinting game, allowing himself to be backed up. The issue with O'Malley's hesitancy to engage with Dvalishvili due to the grappling threat is that it allowed Merab to unload shots at will once Sean was backed up against the fence, Sean being out of his stance to counter due to his avoidance of Merab. Merab’s success in the striking mostly came from this avoidance, with O’Malley’s “hit and run” gameplan actually putting him heavily out of position, trying to sprint backwards whenever he threw anything meaningful. This allowed Dvalishvilli to unload whenever O’Malley threw a strike, catching him with combinations that Sean wasn’t able to punish. Coming out of his stance to try and flee striking range whenever he attempted to trade with Merab was actually more detrimental to his takedown defence, as in order to become more mobile, O’Malley would square his hips, giving up easy double legs. It was when O’Malley stood his ground and looked to counter where he found success, landing a slick cross counter to Dvalishvili’s jab and other solid strikes when he was prepared to risk the takedown attempt. Maybe if O'Malley had looked to fire back as Merab tried to punish his body straights, he would have found more success in the striking, as opposed to trying to rush out whenever he threw anything with conviction. 

Merab’s skills as a grappler are also heavily improving. Merab had always been known as a cardio wrestler, who could take people down but offered very little in terms of threatening a finish. Merab still isn’t Maia or Nurmagomedov on the ground, but has more options to punish his opponent's attempts to stand up. While in the Yan and Cejudo fights Merab was unable to threaten much offence when he got his opponents down. Against O’Malley, he utilised front headlock attacks to punish fleeing to the position to stand up. This managed to get Merab his first-ever submission in the UFC. What went under the radar for a lot of people was Merab’s use of grounded knees to the body, winding O’Malley and severely wearing him out as the fight went on. One of the ways Dvalishvili effectively exposed O’Mally’s midsection while keeping him controlled was with a wrestling style “claw grip”, reaching under the armpit and grabbing the back of the neck. Keeping O’Malley pinned with the claw ride and body ground and pound turned Merab’s grappling game from an exhausting point-scoring method to a significant danger.

Pena vs Harrison

While Julianna Pena vs Kayla Harrison did not receive a lot of hype, it had some interesting grappling exchanges. Pena ultimately got rag-dolled by the Olympian, but showed some interesting looks while dealing with Harrison’s grappling. Harrison’s tripping game is pretty effective to say the least, but it was Pena who was trying to utilise judo-style trips against the fence in order to make space to get away. No matter someone’s grappling credentials, if you show them a move, they have to react to it, and regardless of that reaction it is often better to do something with a low success rate to create movement than to just lie back and accept the meat grinder. When thrown into side control, Pena managed to get back her guard very quickly, using an elevator hook from butterfly half guard in order to create space to recover full butterfly guard, which she used to temporarily kill Harrison’s top pressure, before moving herself into closed guard. Harrison would deal with this half butterfly guard with a kimura attempt, pinning the shoulder on the side of the butterfly hook and preventing the extension, allowing Kayla to pass and get the submission. While Pena was unsuccessful in stopping the freight train that is Kayla Harrison, hopefully other fighters can learn to utilise some of her tactics themselves.

Cortes-Acosta vs Spivac:

For the first time in a while, there has been movement in the heavyweight top ten. Waldo Cortez-Acosta defeated heavyweight gatekeeper Serghei Spivac with some solid game planning. Spivac’s grappling game is good, but his striking can be a bit one-dimensional, relying on a high guard, a jab and an occasional overhand right to carry him through the striking portions of his fights. After getting his kicks caught and being taken down by Spivac, Waldo decided that keeping Spivac in his high guard would be the path to victory, occupying Spivac's hands and stopping him from making any meaningful takedown attempts. He did this through something many fighters in heavier weight classes neglect, throwing a jab as a means to an end and not as a knockout blow. By taking the power off his jab, Cortez-Acosta could keep Spivac’s guard up, mixing in the occasional heavier jab to keep the punch threatening. While this wasn’t game ending it led to a lot of openings for Waldo, who started hand fighting the stationary guard of Spivac to land straights and knees, pulling the wrists aside to open up shots. Cortez-Acosta would even land the odd cheeky overhand, wrapping around Spivac’s front-facing high guard. Spivac also utilised to overhand well, throwing it to loop over Waldo’s jabbing arm and catch him as he would throw it, leading to perhaps the most technical overhand exchanges in ufc heavyweight prelim fight history.

Van vs Silva:

Joshua Van is one of the most exciting prospects in the UFC right now, being the perfect mix of technician and slugger. Bruno Silva’s game plan to deal with Van’s boxing was to take his legs out. Silva would feint punches, square up his hips and leg kick Van as he bit on the feint. This worked well as Van would see Silva square his shoulders and hunker down, ready to slip and counter, only to get repeatedly low kicked. When Van tried to close the distance, Silva would back up and low kick him again, Van still in stance and open to having his legs taken out. While O'Malley was punished for leaving his stance, Van was punished for being in it, getting kicked every time he put his feet down to box. Ultimately, it was Silva’s hesitancy to go punch for punch with van when necessary which lost him the fight, running in from out of range with cartoonishly wild overhangs and serving Van counters on a silver platter. With Silva throwing himself out of position and Van’s willingness to stay in his stance, it meant that when Silva blatantly overextended, he would be punished hard for it, Van ripping nasty shots as Silva tripped over himself. Joshua van’s success in this fight can be attributed to the importance of staying in your base, even if you are in an uncomfortable position, as it may just lead to a bad situation getting a whole lot worse. 

Choimski vs Medeiros:

Similar to Van vs Silva, this was a battle of countering leg kicks. Choimski, despite being a grappler, would time Medeiros with a one-two down the centre when he threw the leg kick, knocking him off balance. Medeiros’s ability to switch hit was impressive, but he was ultimately getting stumped as Choimski would know when the leg kick was coming. Medeiros used switch-hitting and volume boxing to overwhelm his opponent, using feints and stance switches to confuse and outmanoeuvre his opponent. Every kick feint could come with a stance switch, every boxing combination could end with a stance switch. At one point, Medeiros even used a moment to complain to the referee as an opportunity to disguise a stance switch. Not knowing what punches were coming at him from which stance, Choimski’s counters became much more telegraphed and desperate, looking to counter one of the many punches thrown at him from all directions. While his low kicks had been risky before, it was now obvious to Medeiros when Choimski believed it was “time to box”, and he could slide back out of punching range and throw the low kick. Medeiros succeeded where Silva failed, understanding that even if you are getting tagged occasionally from boxing range, it is better to mix things up than to get crushed by a situation in your attempts to avoid it. Also the calf stomp Medeiros landed when he knocked Choimski down was really cool.