Both the men’s and women’s Bantamweight Championships will be up for grabs at UFC 316, which will take place at the Prudential Centre in Newark, New Jersey, on the morning of 8 June 2025.
In the main event, Merab Dvalishvili (19-4) and Sean O’Malley (18-2, 1 NC) will rematch for the Bantamweight belt. Dvalishvili won the title off O’Malley at UFC 306 in September last year with a unanimous decision triumph, and has since defended the belt once, overcoming Umar Nurmagomedov on points in January at UFC 311 to extend his winning streak to 12 matches.
O’Malley, who has not fought since the loss to Dvalishvili, underwent surgery on his hip at the back end of last year, and has been able to put himself in a much better place both physically and mentally heading into this match.
“I’m healthy, I’m able to grapple,” explained ‘Suga’. “I didn’t grapple in the last camp, I couldn’t. I had a torn labrum [in the hip]. I fought him on one leg and almost beat him. I was confident going into that fight [while] pretty injured. I have a lot of hard work to put in, but I’m excited.”
In the co-main event, Julianna Pena (12-5) will look to make a first successful title defence when she faces Kayla Harrison (18-1). Pena first won the Bantamweight Championship in late 2021 with a surprise triumph over Amanda Nunes, but lost the rematch in mid 2022.
‘The Venezuelan Vixen’ has since reclaimed the belt by beating Raquel Pennington in October last year, but she faces a stiff test against Harrison, who is an Olympic gold medalist in judo and a former Professional Fighters League (PFL) lightweight champion.
Harrison has compared Pena to Godzilla and is determined to make her dream of becoming a UFC Champion real.
“I'm preparing for the hardest fight I've ever had," Harrison explained. "I'm preparing for UFC gold and when preparation is perfect and you have an indomitable spirit and you have the mental fortitude and the indomitable will that I have, good things happen.”
The rest of the main card features Kelvin Gastelum taking on Joe Pyfer in the middleweight division; Mario Bautista tackles Patrick Mix in a bantamweight fight; and Vicente Luque faces off with Kevin Holland in a welterweight match.
UFC 316 – MAIN CARD
- Main event: Bantamweight Championship: Merab Dvalishvili v Sean O’Malley
- Co-main event: Women’s Bantamweight Championship: Julianna Pena v Kayla Harrison
- Middleweight: Kelvin Gastelum v Joe Pyfer
- Bantamweight: Mario Bautista v Patrick Mix
- Welterweight: Vicente Luque v Kevin Holland