UFC 269 live blog: Sean O’Malley vs. Raulian Paiva

This is the UFC 269 live blog for Sean O’Malley vs. Raulian Paiva, a bantamweight main card bout on Saturday’s fight card at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

O’Malley and Paiva enter the fight as unranked competitors, but they are on widely different levels of recognition. O’Malley, one of the biggest unranked draws in the sport, returns after a brutal beatdown of Kris Moutinho at UFC 264 that marked his second straight win after a TKO loss to Marlon Vera. The colorfully-haired bantamweight is a regular presence on pay-per-view main cards and has signaled his desire to keep that position.

Paiva, meanwhile, is still looking for his breakthrough fight after scrapping it out at flyweight and then moving to bantamweight after a weight miss. He outpointed Kyler Phillips, O’Malley’s teammate, in his 135-pound debut, a fact O’Malley has disputed. Overall, the Brazilian is on a three-fight winning streak and stands to take a huge leap if he’s able to beat the UFC star.

Check out the UFC 269 live blog.