UFC 316: Kayla Harrison submits Julianna Pena to win bantamweight title

In the main event, Georgia’s Merab Dvalishvili submitted American Sean O’Malley in the third round to retain his bantamweight title.

Dvalishvili beat O’Malley for the belt last year with a typically relentless display of grappling and mirrored the performance in the rematch.

Although O’Malley defended well in the second round, he was taken down early in the third and Dvalishvili never looked back, controlling the action on the ground before securing a north-south choke.

Victory was Dvalishvili’s second defence of his belt and extended his winning streak to 13, the second-longest in the UFC among active fighters.

Russia’s Islam Makhachev holds the longest with 15.

“I’m on top of the world. I came from nothing, I’m so grateful to inspire so many generations. It doesn’t matter what you have if you know where you’re going and you have a goal,” said Dvalishvili.

On the undercard, former Bellator bantamweight champion Patchy Mix suffered a unanimous decision defeat on his UFC debut by fellow American Mario Bautista.

Mix, who left the PFL in May after venting frustrations over a lack of fights, suffered his second defeat in 22 bouts while Bautista extended his winning streak to eight.