UFC 306: Noche UFC and Canelo vs Berlanga Recap (Sports)
September 14, 2024
UFC 306: Noche UFC at The Sphere
UFC 306: “Noche UFC” took place at The Sphere in Las Vegas for the venue’s first sporing event. The event was also a celebration of Mexico with the event taking place during the Mexican Independence Day weekend.
The main event was for the men’s bantamweight title between Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili. Dvalishvili dominated most of the fight with O’Malley having some small moments towards the end of the 5th round of the fight. The main takeaway of the fight was Dvalishvili being able to control most of the fight with 10 minutes of control time. The judges scorecards did not reflect how the fight went, and Dvalishvili showed that he was the more well-rounded fighter with his pace and pressure. The undefeated Umar Nurmagomedov currently ranked second looks to be the next title challenger, and will make for an interesting fight with him having a strong ground game.
The co-main event was the trilogy fight between Valentina Shevchenko and Alexa Grasso for the women’s flyweight title. The first fight ended with with Grasso winning by submission, and the second fight ended with a controversial draw between the two fighters. This third fight showed a clear winner with Shevchenko completely dominating Grasso through all 5 rounds winning by unanimous decision with all 3 judges scoring the fight 50-45.
Unfortunately this “Noche UFC” card saw 8 of the Mexican fighters on the card going 2 for 6 during the night.
UFC 306 Fight Card Results
- Merab Dvalishvili def. Sean O’Malley (c) via unanimous decision (49-46, 48-47, 48-47)
- Valentina Shevchenko def. Alexa Grasso (c) via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45)
- Diego Lopes def. Brian Ortega via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)
- Ricardo Ramos def. Daniel Zellhuber via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)
- Ronaldo Rodríguez def. Ode’ Osbourne via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 29-27)
- Norma Dumont def. Irene Aldana via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Ignacio Bahamondes def. Manuel Torres via first-round KO (punch)
- Ketlen Souza def. Yazmin Jauregui via first-round submission (rear naked choke)
- Joshua Van def. Édgar Cháirez via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Raul Rosas Jr. def. Aoriqileng via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Canelo vs Berlanga at the T-Mobile Arena
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez def. Edgar Berlanga via unanimous decision (117-110, 118-109, 118-109)
Canelo Alvarez (62-2-2, 39 KOs) retained his unified WBC, WBO, and WBA super middleweight championships (168 pounds) with a unanimous decision win over Edgar Berlanga (22-1, 17 KOs). Alvarez completely dominated the younger and less experienced Edgar Berlanga for the entirety of the fight. The biggest highlight of the fight came in Round 3 with Alvarez scoring an early knockdown with a brutal left hook. Not too sure what is next for Alvarez, but a fight against Terence Crawford or David Benavidez would be the two most exciting options.