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Find a loaded schedule of fights today for UFC 316, with the main card starting with two back-to-back all-American middleweight and female bantamweight title fights before we head into the highly anticipated bantamweight title fight between Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O’Malley.
There’s a lot at stake for all fighters, so be sure to catch the action starting at 10 PM ET after looking at our exclusive picks!
United State’s Kelvin Gastelum (20-9-0, 1 NC) takes on American Joe Pyfer (13-3-0) in an extremely evenly matched middleweight bout tonight. While the former boasts seven more wins than his opponent tonight, Pyfer stands at 6’ 2”, a whole 5 inches taller than Gastelum, while boasting a 3.5” reach advantage. Both fighters are coming into the octagon off a fresh win, so it will be interesting to see which one takes the cake.
Pyfer likes to end his fights quickly (7:23 average fight length), with a 69% win by KO/TKO ratio compared to Gastelum’s 30%. Gastelum has taken slightly more wins by submission at 30% versus Pyfer’s 23% and has won most of his fights by decision (40%). Both Americans rep similar significant strike states at around 3.73 landed per minute with 41% accuracy, 3.48 absorbed per minute, and 50%+ standing defense.
Despite Gastelum showcasing more wins by submission, Pyfer averages more takedowns per 15 minutes at 1.45 with 41% accuracy, although Gastelum does boast higher takedown defense at 59%. All things considered, Pyfer will continue his reign of victories with another KO/TKO win by the end of 5 rounds.
Women’s bantamweight title holder Julianna Peña (13-5-0) takes on challenger Kayla Harrison (19-1-0) as both Americans enter the ring off fresh wins in their previous fights. Harrison may take the 2” height advantage over 5’ 6” Peña, but Peña has the 3” reach advantage and 2” leg reach advantage heading into this one.
Overall, both fighters prefer to submit their opponents, as Peña reps a 46% win-by-submission rate while Harrison showcases a 39% win-by-submission rate. Harrison’s 19 victories are much more balanced, as she also has 33% wins via KO/TKO and 28% by decision, with an average fight time nearly 2:28 seconds shorter than the title holder. While dishing out significant strikes seems to be Harrison’s specialty (4.87 landed per minute (64%)), Peña absorbs 2.53 per minute with a 57% defense.
Harrison, however, boasts a 64% striking defense with 100% takedown defense. While Peña has 1.81 takedowns averaged per 15 minutes with 56% accuracy, Harrison has nearly 3 takedown attempts per 15 minutes, leading me to predict Harrison to take the win by submission and steal the bantamweight title from her opponent in this matchup.
One of the UFC’s most highly anticipated rematches is here, with Georgia’s Maerab Dvalishvili (19-4-0) taking on American Sean O’Malley (18-2-0, 1 NC) in a rematch bantamweight title fight. Dvalishvili is coming off a fresh win with one fight since the prequel, while Sean O’Malley’s last fight was his defeat against Dvalishvili. This one will be interesting, with O’Malley standing at 5’ 11”, 5” taller than his Georgian opponent with a 4” arm reach and 2” leg reach advantage.
Their last fight ended in a decision win to Dvalishvili, who won 79% of his 19 victories by decision compared to O’Malley’s 28%. However, O’Malley looks to end his fights quickly (average length 11:04), with 67% of his wins by KO/TKO compared to his opponents’ 16%. O’Malley is a bonafide striker, landing 6.7 significant strikes per minute (61%) versus Dvalishvili’s 4.36 (42%), and the American even absorbs more strikes at 3.48 per minute with a 60% defense.
Where Dvalishvili lacks in striking compared to his opponent, he makes up for his incredible grappling ability, averaging a whopping 5.89 takedowns per 15 minutes (35% accuracy) and 82% takedown defense. While submission may be out of the question for O’Malley, he can take it to the titleholder with feet planted on the canvas, looking to knock out his opponent for a KO/TKO revenge win.
Liam has been a major sports fan and soccer player for over a decade, with a particular focus on major top-level soccer leagues, including the EPL, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and MLS. He has written numerous promotional articles for various top sportsbooks and continues to publish historical and factual sports articles covering the NFL, MLS, NHL, MLB, EPL and more.