*Sean O'Malley blasts Marlon Vera with a brutal straight right hand. Credit: Yahoo Sports.*

The UFC brings a sporting event to the Sphere in Las Vegas for the first time ever with an excellent pay-per-view card. This card has been stacked from top to bottom with rising stars, established names, and two fantastic title fights, all celebrating Mexican Independence Day. In the co-main event, we’ll see the trilogy bout between defending champion Alexa Grasso and former champion Valentina Shevchenko. In the main event, we’ll see a long-awaited matchup between two heated rivals, Bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley and #1 contender Merab Dvalishvili. Let’s take a look at the fights on the main card.

Ronaldo Rodriguez vs. Ode’ Osbourne

*Ronaldo Rodriguez celebrates his victory over Denys Bondar. Credit: MMA Junkie.*

Flyweight Bout

Ronaldo Rodriguez: 16-2-0, 7 KO/TKO, 5 Sub.

Ode’ Osbourne: 12-7-0, 5 KO/TKO, 4 Sub.

Rodriguez is on a six-fight win streak and has a UFC victory over Denys Bondar (14-5-0). He’s a well-rounded, technical fighter who’s constantly coming forward and pursuing a finish. He favors power to volume and remains technical throughout, keeping his shots straight and tight while often looking to counter-strike. Rodriguez is highly durable and always willing to eat a shot to land one, regularly walking through punches to land his own offense. He has great scrambles and reversals on the mat, never accepts position on his back, and regularly throws up submission attempts. Training at ADAM Coatzacoalcos, he’s constantly pursuing a finish in top position, throwing ground and pound to open submission opportunities. Rodriguez has 18 pro fights along with 21 amateur bouts, making him highly experienced and visibly comfortable inside the cage despite his young age.

*Ode' Osbourne throws a left hand at Jerome Rivera. Credit: MMA Fighting.*

Osbourne has won two of his last five fights and has UFC victories over CJ Vergara (12-5-1), Charles Johnson (16-6-0), and Jerome Rivera (10-6-0). He’s a speedy striker with a diverse attack and a wrestling background. He fights behind his jab, throwing everything in combination and never loading up on shots, throwing every shot with impressive speed. Osbourne has heavy kicks and does an excellent job mixing them into combinations, regularly throwing them to the legs and body. Although he doesn’t move his feet much, he’s constantly feinting and moving his head while looking for openings to land shots. Training at Syndicate MMA, he’s averaging over one takedown landed per fifteen minutes and is strong in the clinch, with solid knees and trips. Eight of Osbourne’s nine finishes have come in the first round, and he’s at his most dangerous early on in the fight.

Daniel Zellhuber vs. Esteban Ribovics

*Daniel Zellhuber cracks Francisco Prado with a damaging jab. Credit: MMA Fighting.*

Lightweight Bout

Daniel Zellhuber: 15-1-0, 7 KO/TKO, 3 Sub.

Esteban Ribovics: 13-1-0, 7 KO/TKO, 5 Sub.

Zellhuber has won four of his last five bouts and has UFC victories over Lando Vannata (12-7-2), Francisco Prado (12-2-0), and Christos Giagos (20-12-0). He’s a lengthy striker with excellent boxing, speed, and power. He fights behind his jab, remaining patient and looking for openings to land damaging shots. Zellhuber has solid cardio and will remain technical throughout, pushing a consistent pace and often improving as the fight continues. Training at Xtreme Couture, he has excellent distance management and footwork, typically controlling the center of the cage for most of the fight. He won’t often initiate grappling exchanges, but he has a solid submission game and has defended 94% of takedowns attempted on him in the UFC. Zellhuber is tied for the longest reach among active Lightweights and uses it well, constantly doing damage from range with long punches and kicks.

*Esteban Ribovics rushes Thomas Paull after dropping him with punches. Credit: MMA Fighting.*

Ribovics has won four of his last five outings and has UFC victories over Terrance McKinney (15-7-0) and Kamuela Kirk (12-6-0). He’s a heavy-handed scrapper, coming out guns blazing and pushing a heavy pace from bell to bell. He’s constantly looking to close the distance and unload inside the pocket with brutal hooks. Ribovics tends to brawl more as the fight continues, often starting rounds fighting technically and taking more risks as they go on. Training at Kill Cliff FC, he has solid defensive grappling abilities and has proven capable of surviving in deep waters on the mat. Although he won’t typically initiate grappling scenarios, he has heavy ground and pound and submission skills, particularly shoulder locks. Ribovics is always dangerous, especially early on, with five of his seven knockouts coming in the first round.

#3 Brian Ortega vs. #13 Diego Lopes

*Brian Ortega lands a stinging right hook on Yair Rodr*í*guez. Credit: MMA Fighting.*

Featherweight Bout

Brian Ortega: 16-3-0, 3 KO/TKO,O 8 Sub.

Diego Lopes: 25-6-0, 10 KO/TKO, 12 Sub.

Ortega has won two of his last five fights and has UFC victories over #4 ranked Featherweight Yair Rodríguez (16-5-0), #11 ranked Lightweight Renato Moicano (19-5-1), and Chan Sung Jung (17-8-0). He’s a well-rounded fighter with technical striking and a slick submission game. He possesses power and speed in his hands, throwing everything tight and straight and never telegraphing his shots. He has a granite chin and excellent cardio, never going away or slowing down during the fight. Ortega advances lightning-fast on the ground, often chaining submissions together and easily transitioning between them. Training at Huntington Beach UTC, he has flashy attacks to back up his technical skill and can land flying knees and spinning attacks. He varies his shots well, attacking the head and body evenly and regularly landing brutal leg kicks. All of Ortega’s submissions have come via choke, and he is known to have one of the best triangle chokes in MMA.

*Diego Lopes stuns Sodiq Yusuff with an uppercut. Credit: MMA Fighting.*

Lopes has won four of his last five bouts and has UFC victories over #14 ranked Featherweight Dan Ige (18-8-0), Sodiq Yusuff (13-4-0), and Pat Sabatini (18-5-0). An experienced grappler with impressive striking, he throws every shot with knockout intentions and constantly seeks a finish. He has one-shot KO power on the feet and has excellent accuracy and timing with his hands. Lopes has fast, powerful kicks and tends to get wild with his striking. Training at Lobo Gym MMA, he has a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and is dangerous anywhere the fight goes. He has a vicious submission game on top and bottom, constantly transitioning and looking for openings. Lopes has excellent ground and pound on top, which he’ll regularly use to create submission openings.

(C) Alexa Grasso vs. #1 Valentina Shevchenko

*Alexa Grasso blasts Valentina Shevchenko with a left hand. Credit: MMA Mania.*

Women’s Flyweight Title Bout

Alexa Grasso: 16-3-1, 4 KO/TKO, 2 Sub.

Valentina Shevchenko: 23-4-1, 8 KO/TKO, 7 Sub.

Grasso has won four of her last five outings with one draw and has wins over #4 ranked Flyweight Maycee Barber (14-2-0), #9 ranked Flyweight Viviane Araujo (12-6-0), and her current opponent, Valentina Shevchenko. She is an excellent technical boxer who throws everything purposefully and in combination. She’s aggressive but not wild, staying technical and using timing and accuracy to damage her opponents. Grasso has a solid chin and is dangerous inside the pocket but is also defensively sound, having defended 58% of significant strikes attempted on her in the UFC. She holds a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and is always dangerous on the ground. She’s constantly working, looking to posture up and land damage while threatening submissions. Grasso is a volume striker with excellent cardio, pushing a heavy pace throughout and landing, on average, 70 significant strikes in her last five fights.

*Valentina Shevchenko lands a damaging jab on Alexa Grasso. Credit: Zuffa LLC.*

Shevchenko has won three of her last five fights with one draw and has UFC victories over #1 ranked Bantamweight Julianna Peña (12-5-0), #7 ranked Flyweight Katlyn Cerminara (18-6-0), and #8 ranked Flyweight Jéssica Andrade (26-13-0). She holds black belts in Taekwondo and Judo and the rank of Master of Sports in Taekwondo, Judo, Muay Thai, Kickboxing, and Boxing. One of the best strikers in the sport, she always throws in combination and has excellent power and speed in her hands and kicks. Training at Tiger Muay Thai, Shevchenko does a great job of evenly varying her shots, attacking the head, body, and legs. She’s landed, on average, about four takedowns in her last five fights and has excellent top control, ground and pound, and chokes. She does everything with impressive speed and has excellent distance management, rarely staying in the pocket long enough to get hit. One of the most prolific champions in UFC history, she has the most fight time, title victories, takedowns landed, and knockout wins in the Women’s Flyweight division, along with many other records.

(C) Sean O’Malley vs. #1 Merab Dvalishvili

*Sean O'Malley rains down ground and pound after dropping Aljamain Sterling. Credit: MMA Junkie.*

Bantamweight Title Bout

Sean O’Malley: 18-1-0, 12 KO/TKO, 1 Sub.

Merab Dvalishvili: 17-4-0, 3 KO/TKO, 1 Sub.

O’Malley has won four of his last five outings with one no-contest and has UFC victories over #3 ranked Bantamweight Petr Yan (17-5-0), #7 ranked Bantamweight Marlon Vera (23-10-1), and #8 ranked Featherweight Aljamain Sterling (24-4-0). He’s a wild, flashy striker, throwing out a variety of spinning and flying kicks seemingly at will. Averaging over seven significant strikes landed per minute, he’s always pursuing a finish, holding knockout wins in half of his bouts in the promotion. Training at MMA Lab, O’Malley rarely engages in grappling exchanges, preferring to stay at range and pick his opponent apart with long punches and kicks. Beyond his arsenal of flashy attacks, his most dangerous weapons are his straight punches, often putting them at the end of combinations and regularly resulting in knockdowns or knockouts. O’Malley carries his power throughout the fight and can produce a finish anytime.

*Merb Dvalishvili carries Henry Cejudo before landing a brutal takedown. Credit: MMA Fighting.*

Dvalishvili is on a ten-fight win streak and has UFC victories over #4 ranked Bantamweight Petr Yan (16-5-0), #6 ranked Bantamweight Henry Cejudo (17-5-0), and #10 ranked Bantamweight José Aldo (32-8-0). He has monstrous cardio, relentlessly pursuing takedowns and landing big flurries on the feet. He’s incredibly durable, always willing to eat a shot to land one, and is constantly pressuring forward. Dvalishvili can easily wrestle for five rounds, averaging over six takedowns landed per fifteen minutes in the UFC. Training with the Serra-Longo Fight Team, his constant wrestling threat helps to mask his striking, often coming forward with powerful hooks and big combinations. He never stops moving on the feet or the ground, constantly looking for a better position or opening to land a shot. Always looking to overwhelm his opponents, Dvalishvili lands, on average, nearly twice as many significant strikes per minute than he absorbs.

Best Bets

Ronaldo Rodriguez by Submission: The main card opens with an excellent matchup of two exciting fighters. Both have very different styles and levels of experience, with this being Rodriguez’s second UFC appearance and Osbourne’s tenth. Despite this, I believe Rodriguez has the advantage both on the feet and the ground. Osbourne is an excellent striker but benefits from a slower-paced, more kickboxing-oriented style of fight. Rodriguez is constantly coming forward, throwing bombs, and is willing to eat punches, which will significantly disrupt Osbourne’s style. Osbourne has also proven particularly susceptible to submissions, with three submission losses in the UFC, two of which came in his last two fights. I don’t expect Rodriguez to shoot for takedowns immediately; I anticipate him wearing Osbourne down in striking exchanges before securing a takedown in the clinch or scoring a knockdown. Rodriguez can find submissions very quickly, and I expect him to do so once Osbourne is on the mat.

Alexa Grasso Moneyline: After two fantastic title bouts, we’ll possibly see this trilogy settled on Saturday. Grasso scored a decisive victory in their first meeting, but their second bout was extremely close, resulting in a draw. Although it was incredibly tough to call, after a second viewing, I believe Grasso won that fight, managing to steal the fifth round late in what I believe was a 2-2 fight heading into the fifth. Regardless, it’s impossible to say either woman has a significant advantage in any area; they match up evenly. At most, I’d give Grasso an edge in power and Shevchenko in speed. When things are that tough to judge inside the cage, you must look at the intangibles. Grasso is much earlier in her career and much less established as a fighter and champion. Not to say Shevchenko is complacent, but Grasso is the younger, hungrier fighter. Given this, it’s reasonable to believe Grasso is improving at a faster rate than Shevchenko at this point in her career. I believe Grasso will look even better than in their prior meetings, and I expect her to secure a victory and end their rivalry.

Sean O’Malley Moneyline: Easily the most challenging fight to call on the card; this is a classic matchup of striker vs. grappler. Their styles could not be more opposite, with O’Malley a lengthy, devastating striker and Dvalishvili a high-intensity wrestler. One of the most significant aspects of this fight is O'Malley's height and reach advantage. Dvalishvili constantly looks to close distance and get into the pocket, often using his striking to set up takedown attempts. Dvalishvili is a relatively non-technical striker, typically blitzing forward with a barrage of hooks, overhands, and elbows. Blitzing in on an opponent with the reach advantage of O’Malley is a very hazardous ordeal, let alone considering the knockout power O’Malley possesses. I can’t imagine Dvalishvili will be looking to strike for five rounds, and he will be in serious trouble if he can’t secure takedowns. I expect O’Malley to avoid the blitzes of Dvalishvili and piece him up from distance. Dvalishvili is exceptionally tough and won’t be easy to put away, but whether via finish or decision, I expect O’Malley to retain his title.

UFC 306 Preview