'April Fool's?'… UFC fans confused by Dana White announcing title fight rematch no one asked for
Yesterday at 04:41 AM
Fans questioned whether the date had anything to do with the UFC president’s latest major announcement.
April 1 has proven to be a difficult day for fight fans to navigate given the amount of April Fool’s jokes that are out there waiting to trick unknowing victims.
So much so that when Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Tony Ferguson was cancelled on this date seven years ago, many didn’t believe the news at first.
On 2025’s April Fool’s, Dana White got fans excited with the announcement that he would be going live to announce some new matchups.
Alongside a fantastic welterweight showdown between Carlos Prates and Ian Machado Garry, White confirmed the main and co-main event for UFC 316 in Newark, New Jersey.
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Fans question whether Merab Dvalishvili vs Sean O’Malley 2 is an April Fool’s joke
On June 7, the Octagon returns to the Prudential Center where co-main event billing goes to bantamweight champion Julianna Pena who will take on Kayla Harrison in a long awaited clash.
The main event also sees a 135-pound title on the line as Merab Dvalishvili returns for his second title defense of the year following his win over Umar Nurmagomedov in January.
Dvalishvili won the title at UFC 306 last September where in the main event of the promotion’s special showcase event for Riyadh Season Noche UFC inside Sphere, he defeated Sean O’Malley.
The former champion made it clear after reflecting on the loss that he was targeting a rematch with the Georgian which has now been officially confirmed as the next move for both men after ‘Suga’ took some time off.
Their first encounter went the full five rounds and despite Dvalishvili displaying his showmanship throughout the fight, he only won by one round on two of the three scorecards.
With O’Malley not fighting since his loss at UFC 306, many of the replies to the announcement weren’t exactly thrilled to hear the news that this matchup is being ran back in several months.
A lot of responses questioned whether this was an April Fool’s joke considering that the former champion has been on the side lines since September.
“Today is April fools I need proof,” wrote one fan with similar sentiments expressed throughout the replies. “It’s still April 1st in America. This has to be a joke.”
“This was the ‘big’ announcement?”
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Why Sean O’Malley is getting the rematch with Merab Dvalishvili
Alongside the simple fact that he’s a big name and star for the UFC, there are several other factors at play in the promotion’s decision to put Sean O’Malley back into a title fight.
There is an argument to be made that with rumors of O’Malley suffering significant injuries ahead of UFC 306 and the fact that he won the last round on all three cards after hurting his opponent in the final moments, ‘Suga’ deserves the rematch.
This could be easily trumped if there was a contender at bantamweight who had a clearer and more obvious case for a title shot but that isn’t necessarily the landscape of the division right now.
Former champion Petr Yan has also been in the title picture following his impressive win over Deiveson Figueiredo last November but the Russian was completely dominated over five rounds by Dvalishvili in March of 2023.
O’Malley’s name certainly holds weight but he may also have the best case for being deserving of another shot at Dvalishvili.
