Merab Dvalishvili delivered on his promise to dethrone Sean O’Malley as he put on a suffocating performance to cap off UFC 306 on Saturday night from Sphere in Las Vegas.

The fight played out almost exactly as Dvalishvili envisioned it with relentless pressure, takedowns and a dominant ground game with O’Malley growing more and more frustrated with each passing round. Even in the moments when O’Malley did find success on the feet, Dvalishvili was quick to rag doll him back to the canvas as he controlled the action for the majority of 25 minutes to claim the UFC bantamweight title

The judges ultimately scored the fight 49-46, 48-47 and 48-47 with Dvalishvili winning his 11th consecutive fight and now becoming a UFC champion for the first time.

“Today I wasn’t feeling any different than any other day,” Dvalishvili said following his win. “I was actually curious why I wasn’t feeling that I was fighting for a UFC belt. Today was a normal day for me. As you see, I don’t spend my energy. Crazy. I feel I’m in a dream. Today, I’m the best fighter in the UFC. I proved!

“I can go 15 more rounds like this. I have a belt, I win, everybody knows I dominated this guy.”

Prior to his celebration, there was actually some early friction between Dvalishvili and O’Malley’s corner, which led to referee Herb Dean issuing a warning in a strange moment to open the fight. Once the action actually got moving, O’Malley started to establish a long jab that was popping Dvalishvili in the face but that didn’t deter the Georgian from rushing forward for his first takedown against the cage.