The UFC will make its first appearance at the Las Vegas Sphere with one of its most electric champions in Sean O'Malley serving as the headliner against Merab Dvalishvili. The event, which the fight promotion is billing as Noche UFC becauase it falls on Mexican Independence Day weekend, also features a women's flyweight title bout between champion Alexa Grasso and former champ Valentina Shevchenko. The main card at Sphere is on ESPN+ pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET, with prelims on ESPNNews and ESPN+ at 7:30 p.m.

O'Malley will be looking for his second consecutive title defense in the bantamweight division. He avenged the only loss of his career to Marlon "Chito" Vera in his first successful defense back in March. Now he'll take on an entirely different challenge in Dvalishvili. The 33-year-old is unbeaten since 2018 and has finally scored the opportunity to become a champion. The compelling bantamweight title fight won't be the only one with a belt on the line. Alexa Grasso will look to defend her belt against Valentina Shevchenko in the third fight between the two flyweights.

O’Malley won the UFC bantamweight crown in August 2023 when he knocked out Dvalishvili’s teammate, Aljamain Sterling, in the main event of UFC 292. O’Malley’s only title defense to date came in March when he defeated Marlon “Chito” Vera by decision. Dvalishvili enters Saturday’s fight card as the No. 1 fighter in the official UFC bantamweight rankings. He is unbeaten in his past 10 trips to the Octagon. He went 4-0 in his first bouts with the promotion, picking up three fight-night bonus awards for his efforts, including a brutal one-punch KO win over UFC veteran Eddie Wineland at UFC 250. The win over Wineland put O’Malley at No. 14 in the UFC bantamweight rankings and got him a fight against Marlon “Chito” Vera. Vera won that fight by TKO, handing O’Malley the only defeat on his record. The opening odds for the UFC 306 main event saw Dvalishvili as the -198 betting favorite over O’Malley, who was +164. However, the popular champion, is now the betting favorite at -146 over Dvalishvili, who is +107. Sean O’Malley has a height and reach advantage in this matchup, which could give him a big edge in the striking game. However Dvalishvili’s cardio and chain wrestling are a great equalizer. When looking at a common opponent, in this case, Petr Yan, Yan had six takedowns on 13 attempts in three rounds against O’Malley and 5:44 of control time. Yan also outstruck O’Malley 97 to 91 in total strikes. O’Malley won that fight, but it was very close. Meanwhile, Dvalishvili picked up 11 takedowns on 49 attempts against Yan and had 6:53 of control time in 25 minutes. Dvalishvili also outlanded Yan in total strikes 202 to 87. The betting pick is for Dvalishvili to win via decision, thanks to his wrestling and cardio. However, an O’Malley pick by KO is not out of the question as a value bet. Dvalishvili (17-4) has won 10 in a row, most recently a February decision over former two-division champion Henry Cejudo. He is No. 2 in the ESPN men's bantamweight rankings. Neither Grasso (16-3-1) nor Shevchenko (23-4-1) has fought since last September's split draw, which was a rematch of the March 2023 bout in which Grasso took away the title via fourth-round submission. Grasso is No. 2 pound-for-pound women's rankings, Shevchenko No. 3.