Sean O’Malley will return to the octagon in June as his rematch with Merab Dvalishvili headlines UFC 316 in New Jersey.

O’Malley lost his bantamweight title last September as Dvalishvili won via decision to take the belt from him at Las Vegas’ Sphere.

•UFC 316 FULL CARD Stream live on Paramount+ & Amazon Prime Video

Dvalishvili beat O’Malley to claim the bantamweight strap in Vegas
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Dvalishvili beat O’Malley to claim the bantamweight strap in VegasCredit: Getty
But ‘Suga’ now has the chance to redeem himself after suffering only the second loss of his career last time out, following a wait for a rematch.

Dvalishili defended his title against Umar Nurmagomedov earlier this year before confirming he’d take on O’Malley again next.

And now they’re going to go head-to-head for a second time at the top of a bill that also includes a title bout between Julianna Pena and Kayla Harrison.

UFC 316: Date and how to follow

This UFC event will take place on Saturday, June 7 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

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The early preliminary card are scheduled to get started at 11pm UK time before the preliminary card starts at 1am on Sunday morning.

The main card will begin at around 3am on Sunday, June 8 in the UK.

Fans can watch the prelims live on the UFC Fight Pass before the main fights are broadcast live on TNT Sports and more details can be found here.

talkSPORT and talkSPORT.com will also be across all the latest.

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UFC 316: Fight card

MAIN EVENT: Merab Dvalishvili vs Sean O’Malley 2 – for UFC bantamweight title
Julianna Pena vs Kayla Harrison – for UFC women’s bantamweight title
Vicente Luque vs Kevin Holland
Kelvin Gastelum vs Joe Pyfer
Marlon Vera vs Mario Bautista
Bruno Silva vs Joshua Van
Ariane Da Silva vs Wang Cong
Johnny Walker vs Azamat Murzakanov

UFC 316: What has been said? 

The decision to set up a rematch between O’Malley and Dvalishvili was criticised after it was announced, with some fans wanting the UFC to go in a different direction.

However, ‘Suga’ hit back at those unhappy with a simple two-word message: “Don’t watch.”

He added: “Saturday night, June 7, * watch your reality TV show. Don’t watch the fight.

“I’m very grateful for the UFC for giving me the rematch. I didn’t really have much conversation with UFC. I did tell them that was really the only fight I was interested in.

“I wanted the belt back — it wasn’t even I wanted the belt back, I wanted Merab. I wanted that fight back and there wasn’t much negotiation there. It was kind of like, alright, let’s do it.”