Recently crowned bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili will be defending his championship next year. Dvalishvili will be defending against contender Umar Nurmagomedov in the co-main event at UFC 311 on January 18th. UFC 311 will be headlined by Islam Makhachev vs Arman Tsarukyan. Before the fight was announced Dvalishvili made it clear he wasn’t particularly interested in a fight against Nurmagomedov deeming him unworthy of a title shot. And following this announcement he continues to express his discontent about Nurmagomedov’s title shot in an interview with ESPN.
Dvalishvili’s Frustration
In the interview, Merab Dvalishvili expressed why he’s unhappy about the title shot. He said, “Umar is a good fighter. It’s a big challenge, but he doesn’t earn it like the rest of us. We all know we work hard to get here, I don’t get anything easy but somehow gets easy. He just complains all the time that nobody wants to fight him, but there are so many good fighters. There’s (Mario) Bautista, there are other fighters that are killers.”
He went on to say, “But yeah, he fought only (Cory) Sandhagen (with) no wrestling, and he’s using that excuse that he beat the No. 2 guy, and now he’s here. It’s a big challenge, but the only thing I hate is that he doesn’t earn it how UFC fighters should earn it, and he’s just cocky. He should be humble at least, and he just disrespects me and lies, and that’s not what real men should do. That’s it.”
To put it lightly Dvalishvili’s frustration is not particularly justified. Nurmagomedov didn’t go through a murderers row it’s true however he beat Cory Sandhagen one of the very best at 135. So Dvalishvili complaining about the shot being earned is simply not true Sandhagen was on the verge of a title shot when Nurmagomedov beat him. So, Nurmagomedov did very much earn this shot.
Perhaps he feels like Nurmagomedov’s road to the title wasn’t as long so he shouldn’t get a shot. However, the main reason Dvalishvili didn’t get a title shot sooner was self-imposed. Dvalishvili could have gotten a shot while Aljimain Sterling was champion but he refused to fight him. As a result, he had to keep fighting top guys in the meantime due to his actions. Meanwhile, Nurmagomedov has no qualms about fighting anyone.
Admission of Challenge
Despite his claims about Nurmagomedov not deserving a title shot Dvalishvili did admit the challenge he had in front of him. Dvalishvili said, “The fight will be really tough and this is a big, big challenge for me because it’s a new face and yeah, he’s a good fighter. He’s good at kicking, striking, wrestling, and it’s a new challenge.” So despite not viewing Nurmagomedov as worthy, he believes him to be a challenge.
His assessment is not far off. Nurmagomedov is very well rounded having that signature Dagestani wrestling as well as good striking. And this would pose a challenge to Merab who has always had the wrestling advantage over opponents. So he will finally be fighting someone unconcerned about the threat of a takedown.
This fight looks to be an interesting one and we will see the result come January 18th 2025.
Featured image credit to Embed from Getty Images
