Merab Dvalishvili faces Sean O’Malley in a rematch, and Julianna Pena will feature the bantamweight title in a glove with Kayla Harrison at the new main and co-main event announced at UFC 316 on June 7 from Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
UFC CEO Dana White announced a new fight on Tuesday.
Dvalishvili is looking for a second defense in the 135 pound title after beating Umar Nurmagomedov in January with a fantastic five-round performance. That fight came just four months after winning the bantamweight title with an even more dominant performance for O’Malley at UFC 306 in Las Vegas territory.
Since O’Malley lost the title to Dvalishvili, O’Malley will actually be booked without competing again, but when they meet again in June, he is getting the second crack in Georgian Fighter.
As for the co-main event, Pena returns to action following the razor decision over Raquel Pennington, who crowned her as the two-time UFC Bantamweight champion. Overall, Pena has gone 3-1 in the last four fights. This included a performance of a statement against Amanda Nunes to become the first champion in 2021.
Now she faces two Olympic champions at Harrison in June, with the former PFL champion signing with the UFC in free agency and quickly rattling back-to-back wins with Hollyholm and Ketrenvieira to win the title shot.
Overall, Harrison is 18-1 professionally and when he plays Pena in June, she will be trying to become the UFC champion.