Sean O’Malley, Merab Dvalishvili’s Next Best Fights After UFC 306 Results | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats & Rumors

• Rematch with Sean O’Malley
• Omar Nurmagomedov
• Deiveson Figueiredo

The first major hurdle for any new champion is the first title defense. As the old saying goes, you’re not a true champion until you actually defend the title.

Dvalishsvili has been on a string of great victories and has tamed a dynamic champion in Sean O’Malley. But in his next fight he can prove that it was not a fluke or the result of a stylistic mismatch.

The first (and perhaps best) option for the new champion is to go ahead and run this fight back. Regardless of how fair it is, O’Malley is a known star in the sport and fighters with his marketability usually get multiple chances.

It would give Dvalishvili a nice payday against a fighter he knows well and who is the highest-profile fighter in the division.

Umar Nurmagomedov isn’t a household name, but his last name is. Umar is the cousin of UFC great Khabib Nurmagomedov, and he’s poised to make a name for himself as the No. 2-ranked fighter in the division heading into this weekend.

Dvalishvili has already called a showdown with Nurmagomedov “easy,” but it would likely be a toss-up and a completely different confrontation than the one the new champion just won.

Deiveson Figuieredo also deserves a mention. He has gone 3-0 with wins over Rob Font, Cody Garbrandt and Marlon “Chito” Vera since moving up to bantamweight.