Merab Dvalishvili submitted Sean O'Malley as the Georgian defended his Bantamweight title with a dominant display at UFC 316.

'The Machine' is aptly nicknamed as his best-in-class cardio means he is an irrepressible force inside the ring, almost exclusively fighting on the front foot, moving forward and chasing his opponent down - and that is what he did at the Prudential Center in New Jersey on Saturday night, in front of a crowd that included US President Donald Trump and retired heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson.

O'Malley, whom he dethroned as champion in the pair's last meeting at UFC 306, improved greatly since his defeat at The Sphere. Although he took the fight the distance in Las Vegas, he was comprehensively outclassed.

O'Malley realised after the loss to truly be at his best as a fighter he needed to make difficult lifestyle sacrifices to round himself into peak form.

The 30-year-old contender quit smoking among other bad habits and also ditched his trademark dyed hair. No more dazzling colours that turned his locks into rainbows or cotton candy tops. O'Malley sported brown, braided hair for the fight - leaving his fans to wear bright afro wigs in his honour.

This time, he was far more sprightly in his movement, despite being on the back foot pretty much throughout. Dvalishvili won the striking exchanges on the feet and managed to get his opponent onto the canvas five times with takedowns, which is where he does his best work.

And in the third round, after being comprehensively worn down, O'Malley left himself open to the north-south choke and Dvalishvili seized the opportunity to tap him out and retain his 135-pound belt.

It moves the 34-year-old to 20-4 as he picked up a 13th straight MMA victory, tied for the fourth longest streak in UFC history.

In the co-main event, Kayla Harrison made women's bantamweight champion Julianna Peña tap with five seconds left in the second round. And now, after taking just three UFC fights to become a champion, she will face Amanda Nunes, in her first title defence.

Nunes, who retired in 2023 and is widely considered to be the greatest women's UFC fighter of all time, said ahead of the fight she would return to the cage to fight the winner and former Olympic judo champion Harrison earned the opportunity with a dominant hat-trick of victories to begin her career.

The 34-year-old was a two-time $1m prize champion in the Professional Fighters League lightweight championship division before she moved on to UFC last year. She won her first two UFC bouts and her overall MMA record - now a hugely impressive 19-1 - coupled with her fame has made her an instant contender for a title shot.

"I definitely want to fight Amanda. She's the greatest of all time," Harrison said. "I want to be the greatest of all time."

Harrison called out Nunes to enter the ring and after some encouragement from announcer Joe Rogan for security to open the cage door, she walked in and the two went face-to-face. Nunes, who is set for induction this summer into the UFC Hall of Fame, said she would indeed fight Harrison at some point for the 135-pound belt. The crowd went wild as the two engaged in a brief staredown.

"We're going to bring women's MMA to a whole new level," Harrison added.

Elsewhere on the card, UFC fighter Kevin Holland choked out Vicente Luque and Joe Pyfer defeated Kelvin Gastelum in a middleweight bout by unanimous decision.