UFC CEO Dana White drops Merab vs. O'Malley 2 with trio of massive fight announcements

UFC CEO Dana White thankfully didn’t try to fool anyone when he dropped a few major fight announcements on April 1.

The UFC is currently in the midst of a torrid stretch of its 2025 calendar following trips to Mexico City and London the last two weekends. The promotion returns to Las Vegas this Saturday for a UFC Fight Night headlined by Josh Emmett and Lerone Murphy, and next week UFC 314 will go down at the Kaseya Center in Miami, FL.

Fans are also already looking forward to a UFC 315 event in Montreal headlined by Belal Muhammad and Jack Della Maddalena, and now there’s been a major update to the upcoming card in Kansas City as well as UFC 316 on June 7.

Merab Dvalishvili (red gloves) celebrates after winning a UFC bantamweight title fight against Umar Nurmagomedov (not pictured) during UFC 311 at Intuit Dome. | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

Merab Dvalisvhili vs. Sean O'Malley 2 Headlines UFC 316

Following months of speculation, Sean O’Malley will officially get a chance to reclaim the bantamweight belt when he meets Merab Dvalishvili in the main event of UFC 316 in Newark, NJ.

The two bantamweights previously squared off last September in the main event of Riyadh Season Noche UFC at Sphere, where Dvalishvili used his grappling to largely dominate O’Malley and take the title via unanimous decision.

Sean O'Malley (red gloves) fights Merab Dvalishvili (blue gloves) during Riyadh Season Noche UFC 306 at The Sphere. | Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

White also confirmed during his Instagram Live that the card’s co-main event will see Julianna Peña kick off her second reign with the women’s bantamweight belt against former PFL star Kayla Harrison, which is a fight fans have been waiting for since Peña unseated Raquel Pennington and Harrison defeated Ketlen Viera on the main card of UFC 307.

Julianna Pena (blue gloves) celebrates after winning the women’s bantamweight title bout against Raquel Pennington (not pictured) during UFC 307 at Delta Center. | Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

UFC Kansas City Gets New Main Event

The title fight announcements for UFC 316 will understandably dominate the attention of most fans following White’s video, but the UFC CEO also revealed that the UFC Kansas City card on April 26 will now be headlined by welterweights Ian Machado Garry and Carlos Prates.

Shavkat Rakhmonov (red gloves) reacts with Ian Machado Garry (blues gloves) after their fight at T-Mobile Arena. | Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

Currently the UFC’s #7-ranked welterweight contender, Machado Garry very nearly set himself up for a title shot when he stepped in to face Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310 and took the undefeated contender to the scorecards for the first time in his career.

Prates recently vaulted into the UFC’s welterweight Top 15 following a stoppage-win over perennial contender Neil Magny in his first UFC Fight Night main event, and that victory impressively gave the Brazilian four finishes out of his first four Octagon appearances in 2024.

Carlos Prates went 4-0 with four finishes after debuting in the UFC last year. | (Paul Kane/Getty Images)

UFC Kansas City was originally supposed to be headlined by light heavyweights Jamahal Hill and Khalil Rountree Jr, and White’s announcement of Machado Garry vs. Prates follows recent rumors that former light heavyweight titleholder Hill had sustained an injury that would keep him from competing at the card on April 26.

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