In a surprising turn of events at UFC 306, the highly anticipated bantamweight title fight between Sean O'Malley and Merab Dvalishvili was halted in the opening round due to Dvalishvili's actions. The bout, already filled with peculiar moments, took an even stranger twist when Dvalishvili attempted to engage with O'Malley's corner team instead of continuing his fight with the champion.

Just 10 seconds into the first round, Dvalishvili started gesturing towards O'Malley's corner, expressing his frustrations to referee Herb Dean. Even the commentary team was left puzzled as to why the match had been stopped so early. Speculation arose that Dvalishvili may have been without a mouthpiece, but Joe Rogan suggested a different reason. He suspected that O'Malley's team, particularly coach Tim Welch, may have been trying to distract Dvalishvili by yelling at him.

Addressing the incident at a post-fight press conference, Dvalishvili confirmed that he wanted the referee to address O'Malley's team, specifically coach Tim Welch, who had allegedly given unsolicited advice to Dvalishvili. Dvalishvili claimed that Welch's disrespectful behavior had been witnessed previously on social media and that he had personally confronted Welch during the fight, requesting him to cease his actions.

"I never pay attention to other corners, but Tim's voice was very familiar because he was doing the same thing to Aljo," Dvalishvili explained. "He was talking s*** to me, and I told him to stop, but nobody was stopping him."

This incident comes after a video emerged following O'Malley's previous victory over Aljamain Sterling, where coach Welch seemingly gave Sterling bad advice moments before he was knocked out. Dvalishvili compared the incident to other sports, suggesting that such behavior would result in disqualification. Nevertheless, he expressed his apology to Herb Dean for the interruption.

However, the oddities did not end there. During the fight, Dvalishvili seemingly kissed O'Malley's back, intending to taunt and show his dominance. Unbeknownst to Dvalishvili, there were 10 seconds remaining in the round, and O'Malley retaliated with a punch after the bell rang. Dvalishvili admitted that he "had a bit too much fun" and lost track of time, leading to the unexpected jab from O'Malley.

With his decision win at UFC 306, Merab Dvalishvili achieved a professional record of 18-4. Despite the unusual occurrences during the fight, Dvalishvili remains determined to move forward and continue his journey in the bantamweight division.