Merab Dvalishvili is not happy with his top bantamweight title contender, and believes he has been dishonest with fans.
Umar Nurmagomedov is undefeated, and appeared to earn his shot at the title when he defeated Corey Sandhagen back in August. But since Merab dethroned Sean O’Malley for the belt a few weeks later, the Georgian has not been keen to give his rival a shot.
Instead, he believes that the winner of Deiveson Figueiredo and Petr Yan’s clash later this month is a more worthy adversary. This has led fans to accuse Dvalishvili of ‘ducking’ Nurmagomedov, who he feels is not yet the top contender.
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Umar Nurmagomedov says Song Yadong fight was cancelled due to injury
With Merab Dvalishvili’s first title defence still up in the air, Umar Nurmagomedov was expected to keep himself active with a fight against Song Yadong this December. However, the number eight contender was injured, and the bout was scrapped before ever officially being announced.
“I am always ready, and right now I am waiting for an opponent, as Yadong declined to fight in December,” Nurmagomedov wrote. “I was told he is injured. Merab, before my fight with Sandhagen, you said that if I beat him, I would deserve recognition.
“Now you have changed your position – decide who you are. All the fans and analysts are noticing how you are avoiding the fight. Championship is recognition, but you haven’t received it, and you know that perfectly well.”
Merab Dvalishvili claims Umar Nurmagomedov lied about cancelled Son Yadong fight
Instead of the bantamweight contender bout, UFC Fight Night: Tampa is now being headlined by a welterweight clash between Ian Machado Garry and Joaquin Buckley. And Dvalishvili believes that Yadong was not actually injured, and that Nurmagomedov has instead backed out.
“Don’t be fooled again by the bulls*** coming out of Umar’s lying mouth,” he wrote in an aggressive tweet of his own. “Yadong didn’t pull out of any fight – he was ready – Umar didn’t sign. Keep talking crap – you need to work hard and fight other contenders to be the number one contender.
“You are being given a gift from the UFC as everyone knows without earning it. I can’t wait to smash your face and every lying word that comes out of that mouth when your time comes.”
Nurmagomedov replied in a tweet of his own, saying: “I don’t want to disrespect Merab. If I somehow did, then I have no problem apologizing. He’s someone who came up from the very bottom and became a champion.
“His journey deserves respect. He’s a true hard worker. Between him and me, it’s only about the championship belt. There’s no reason for any insults. When our fight is scheduled, we’ll find out who’s stronger, and that’s all there is to it.”
Dana White has insisted that Umar Nurmagomedov is next title contender
The one thing that Dvalishvili has always repeated amid his feud with Nurmagomedov is that he will fight whoever the UFC ask him to fight. And he seems to believe that the Yan vs Figueiredo winner or even a rematch with O’Malley is more in their interests.
But he did tweet a second message which read “I said it one hundred times and I’m gonna say it again – if UFC wants me to fight Umar next I will fight him!”
This follows on from Dana White’s insistence that Nurmagomedov is in fact the next challenger. In the immediate aftermath of UFC 308, he very succinctly guaranteed that “Umar is next”.
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