Merab Dvalishvili knows Umar Nurmagomedov is a legitimate threat to his bantamweight title but that still doesn’t mean he should be fighting for the belt at UFC 311.
As he prepares for his first title defense, Dvalishvili admitted that he had designs on potentially running it back with Petr Yan or Sean O’Malley before the UFC made it clear that the undefeated Russian would be his next opponent. Dvalishvili promises he never backed down from taking the fight but he was just disappointed with Nurmagomedov’s attitude towards the whole situation, especially with only a single win over a top ranked opponent on his resume.
“Umar is a good fighter, it’s a big challenge. But he don’t earn it like the rest of us,” Dvailishvili told the UFC in a new interview. “We all know, we all work hard to get here and I don’t get anything easy but Umar somehow gets easy.
“He just complains all the time that nobody wants to fight him but there are so many good fighters, there is [Mario] Bautista, there are other fighters that are killers, [Montel] Jackson — he only fought [Cory] Sandhagen [who has] no wrestling. I guess he’s using this excuse, he beat the No. 2 guy and now we see.”
Dvalishvili has often stated that he believes Nurmagomedov is getting opportunities based more on his last name than his actual accomplishments inside the octagon.
Nurmagomedov currently sports a perfect 18-0 record overall with six wins in the UFC but he didn’t face a litany of ranked opponents before getting his title shot. That’s a stark contrast compared to Dvalishvili, who ultimately went undefeated for 10 consecutive fights with wins over three former champions before he was granted the same opportunity.
“It’s a big challenge but the only thing I hate, he don’t earn it like how a real UFC fighter should earn it,” Dvalishvili said. “He’s just cocky. He should be humble at least but he disrespects me. That’s [not] what real men should do.”
Now that the fight is official for Jan. 18, Dvalishvili is putting his past grievances with Nurmagomedov aside to get himself ready for war like he’s done throughout his career.
He may not like Nurmagomedov all that much or how he got this title shot but Dvalishvili welcomes the chance to vanquish another challenger and there’s even an added bonus attached to this matchup.
“It’s going to be a good fight, a tough fight,” Dvalishvili said. “Of course, I’m going to look for the finish but to win against a top opponent and then change his zero to one loss, that will be good.
“I’m not fighting somebody that’s an easy opponent. It’s Umar Nurmagomedov. A win against him [in any way], I will take it. It doesn’t matter but not a disqualification or something. As long as I win, it will be good and I will be happy.”
As much as Dvalishvili felt like there were more deserving opponents, he recognizes the hype surrounding Nurmagomedov and he’s excited to snuff that out at UFC 311.
“I like to take this challenge, like I said,” Dvalishvili said. “I want to give people what they want and I want to give UFC what the UFC wants. I’m tired of listening to Umar’s disrespect.”
