The bantamweight champion didn’t just want to beat his first challenger, he wanted to make him humble.
Whilst the co-main event of UFC 311 was a closely contested battle over five rounds, Merab Dvalishvili was able to hand Umar Nurmagomedov his first loss.
Nurmagomedov’s cousin, the great Khabib Nurmagomedov, watched on as the challenger’s undefeated run came to an end following an incredible rally from ‘The Machine’.
Many believed that the matchup would be hard to call and that was proven to be justified following the performances from both men.
After getting past the man that many believed was the champion in waiting, Dvalishvili now turns his attention back to Sean O’Malley who he faces in a rematch at UFC 316.
Javier Mendez believes that Merab Dvalishvili’s showboating swayed the judges at UFC 311
The first two rounds of the co-main event on January 18 saw Umar Nurmagomedov take the lead on two of the three scorecards to put his opponent in a difficult position.
Merab Dvalishvili needed to come on strong in the second half of the fight and his relentless gas tank allowed him to do just that.
Judges Chris Leben and Michael Bell had it 2-2 going into the fifth where in a close round, the champion was able to continue his momentum in order to win the fight via scorecards of 48-47, 49-46 and 48-47.
In a recent episode of The Javier & Mo Show, Nurmagomedov’s coach gave his thoughts on where his fighter lost the bout.
Javier Mendez doesn’t believe that Dvalishvili did significantly more than the challenger in the final round to come away with the win.
Instead, he thinks that it was the showboating and body language of the champion that influenced the judges to give the impression that he was winning the fight.
Having slowed down significantly throughout the fight, Nurmagomedov looked to be holding on whilst Dvalishvili continued to fight at a high pace with a smile on his face.
“I told Umar, the reason why you didn’t win in the fifth round is because he [Merab] showboated his way to winning that—like he acted like the victor when you were tired—and that’s why I feel he basically took it from you, because you let him. When it comes to presence, he [Merab] definitely got that.
“The actual damage that he did was nothing compared to what Umar did. He did show that, ‘I’m the winner, I’m the winner,’ and Umar couldn’t stop him from showing that. I can see how the judges get swayed by that.”
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Merab Dvalishvili did the same thing against Sean O’Malley
Merab Dvalishvili fought in a similar way when he won the title from Sean O’Malley in the main event of UFC 306.
Whilst this is just his personality rather than it being a tactic to sway the judges, it does often give the impression that ‘The Machine’ is dictating the bout.
Dvalishvili beat O’Malley by exactly the same scorecards, winning the fight 49-46, 48-47 and 48-47.
Despite how close two of these scores are, many fans will remember the moments where the challenger was seemingly doing whatever he wanted when he wanted, which made it seem like he was totally dominant even if O’Malley came relatively close to keeping hold of his title with just one round in it.