Back at UFC 306 in September, Merab Dvalishvili put on a dominant performance as he out-worked superstar Sean O’Malley en route to capturing the bantamweight title.
The UFC cameras were quick to show undefeated contender Umar Nurmagomedov watching on from the stands, with the 18-0 Russian wrecking ball now slamming the newly crowned bantamweight champion for trying to negotiate the next title fight during Ramadan.
Umar Nurmagomedov slams ‘scared’ Dvalishvili for ‘avoiding’ title showdown
Thanks to his unanimous decision win over Cory Sandhagen in August, Umar Nurmagomedov secured his spot as the next contender for the UFC bantamweight title; a belt that’s now held by Georgian wrestler Merab Dvalishvili.
Speaking with veteran reporter Kevin Iole this week, Nurmagomedov would not only slam the performance of the now-former champion but also the new bantamweight king for dismissing him as the next title challenger.
“They’re both not very good; O’Malley’s a bum in MMA, like he doesn’t have any grappling or wrestling, and he didn’t even try to fight him, he’s just waiting and running [away] – he fights like a bum… You can’t beat him [Dvalishvili] when you’re running.
“Now, Merab is trying to avoid [saying] my name, trying to tell me that I don’t deserve [title shot], if the UFC asked him to fight me or someone else, I think [he picks] someone else 100 times [out of 100].”
In the immediate aftermath of UFC 306, Dvalishvili would downplay Nurmagomedov as he instead wished to fight former flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo; and pushing that, a rematch with Sean O’Malley around March 2025.
Unfortunately, and as aptly pointed out by Nurmagomedov, Dvalishvili’s desire to wait until March means that his title opportunity goes out the window as he’ll be observing Ramadan.
“He’s playing games, they know that I will not fight in Ramadan and they’re telling us how they’re going to fight in March [when] March is all Ramadan… It’s looking very bad, it’s looking like he’s trying to avoid [me], like he is scared.
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“I don’t understand why the champion is trying to avoid [the next contender] but if they won’t fight with me, I don’t want to wait,” lamented the young Nurmagomedov, who remains open to taking on yet another contender in the meantime.
“Summer, June or July [is too long], I want to fight now, I want to fight after two months before Ramadan, and I want to be active [so] we’ll see what’s going to happen.
“I want to be active, and I want to fight before Ramadan, maybe January or December it’s going to be a good time for me and then after Ramadan, we’ll see – maybe Merab fights someone else and maybe he will lose, who knows.”
Umar Nurmagomedov headlines grappling event one day before UFC 308
The 18-0 contender will actually return to our screens in just a few weeks’ time; not in the UFC octagon, but in the world of professional grappling.
On October 25, just one day before UFC 308, Nurmagomedov will headline the ADXC 6 grappling event against former two-time Bellator champion Eduardo Dantas.
The very next day, the UFC will host their next PPV just down the road in downtown Abu Dhabi, headlined by the featherweight title bout between Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway.
When asked about his thoughts on the upcoming 145lb title showdown, Nurmagomedov noted that: “Max Holloway has a not bad chin and how he fought last fight with Gaethje, if he fights the same with lots of movement… I think he can show good fight.
“But for a prediction, I don’t know exactly because Topuria has hard punches and not bad wrestling, so we’ll see; it’s going to be a very good fight.”
Nurmagomedov’s grappling debut goes down October 25, with UFC 308 set to take place on October 26.
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