Merab Dvalishvili vs Sean O’Malley – UFC 316 LIVE: Start time, undercard, scorecards and round-by-round updates as Donald Trump watches Suga aim to dethrone champion in rematch

What a start from Bautista, who dominates the first, landing to the body with stinging power and looking far quicker than his opponent. He connected on multiple occasions with the jaw. If it carries on like this, Mix won’t see the end of the fight, his head and feet movement is poor to non existant.

Mix is slick everywhere and entering his prime – there’s so much hype around him and fighters themselves speak so highly of him. He could make a real run towards the bantamweight title. Bautista s the man the bookmakers have as an underdog tonight so let’s see what the new signing can do on his first outing.

Holland says he’s staying professional and wants to keep fighting at 170 – then goes on to claim Covington is an easy fights, asking the UFC to book it this summer or autumn.

Give the man his $50k now. Holland puts Luque down and wraps his long arms around the Brazilian’s neck in a d’arce. Luque struggles to wriggle out and then taps, before Holland leaps over the cage, shakes hands with the commentary team and then president Trump.

Chatterbox Kevin Holland is jabbering away in there as usual. Luque’s corner tell him not to let Holland talk him out of fighting, to which the American responds in the cage: ‘I won’t talk you out of fighting.’ He doesn’t and they both have their moments in an entertaining opening. Holland is busier but Luque landed some solid left hooks.

The UFC always stick the first fight on the main card as one they’ve earmarked to raise the roof so it is no surprise whatsoever to see Holland, who fights just about every other week, against game Brazilian Luque. They’ll be throwing caution to the wind and keep this atmosphere fizzing.

Flanked by UFC president Dana White, president Trump makes his entrance to chants of ‘USA’ from the New Jersey crowd, who seem particularly partisan. Trump shakes hands with a few VIP crowd members, lingers on a handshake with Joe Rogan and they exchange a few word before he pumps his fist at the fans, taking his seat for the main card – which starts right now.

Joshua Van showcases why he’s tipped for the top – beating Bruno Silva in the featured pre-lim by stoppage. He’s still only 23 but dropped his opponent multiple times and looks super sharp and precise in the striking exchanges. Remember the name.

The president, fresh from his own scrap (verbal only) with Elon Musk, will be in attendance tonight. It’s not known just yet when he’ll make his big entrance but he’s fit with the UFC like hand in glove and used the promotion as a vehicle of self-promotion for years. There’s always a massive ovation and I’m sure that will be the case again tonight.

O’Malley revealed he had a torn labrum in his hip during the first fight last year before going under the knife shortly afterwards. Perhaps it wasn’t the best decision to accept a fight with Merab on one hip but it could offer some hope for his fans that a fully fit version this evening will do far better.

One of the most underrated fighters in the UFC, says Joe Rogan after Murzakanov draws a rare verbal tap out of Brendson Ribeiro with a bludgeoning display and the Brazilian couldn’t make it out of the first round. Performance of the night so far.

Suga Sean has been known to indulge in all kinds of things, which is one reason why fans warmed to him so quickly, alongside his thrilling fighting style. But he’d quit a number of habits he believes will help him find the extra few performance percentage points to beat Merab tonight.

Former Bellator champ Patchy Mix enters the UFC’s octagon for the first time tonight and plenty are tipping him for a championship run. We’ll see if his skills translate to that kind of level when he makes his debut later against Mario Bautista.

‘Bane’ might have been born in the dark but he thrived under the lights tonight, dominating completely to beat Kalinn Williams with ease at the top of the pre-lims.

Only one finish in the four fights on the early pre-lims tonight in New Jersey… Yoo Joo-sang knocked out Jeka Saragih in their featherweight contest to stay undefeated and move to 9-0.

Merab Dvalishvili vs Sean O’Malley

Juliana Pena vs Kayla Harrison

Kelvin Gastelum vs Joe Pyfer

Mario Bautista vs Patchy Mix

Kevin Holland vs Vicente Luque

Bruno Silva vs Joshua Van

Azamat Murzakanov vs Brendson Ribeiro

Sergey Spivak vs Waldo Cortes-Acosta

Kalinn Williams vs Andreass Gustafsson

Good evening/ morning wherever you’re jumping on board from and welcome to our live coverage of UFC 316 – headlined by a fascinating rematch later on.

Will Suga Sean O’Malley be able to win back his old belt against the man who is his polar opposite in almost every way inside and outside the cage?

More on that in a bit. First, we have plenty of pre-lims and then a juicy main card to enjoy so stick a coffee on and get involved.