Merab Dvalishvili will fight Sean O’Malley in the main event of UFC 306, which will take place on Saturday, September 14. As we know, every fighter has to go through a lot of thick and thin to get to a level where you get a title shot against a champion such as O’Malley, and Dvalishvili is the perfect example of that. Some people in the UFC do not go through as much as most fighters who have no connection inside the UFC, especially when they cannot entertain the audience. Dvalishvili believes that Umar Nurmagomedov is up in the ranking because of his last name.
Merab Dvalishvili Fighting Top Contenders
The Georgian Dvalishvili has also looked great in his last 10 fights and has successfully dominated everyone by defeating three former champions, Jose Aldo, Petr Yan, and Henry Cejudo. Dvalishvili had to defeat these fighters to get a title shot. It is not the first time Dvalishvili has had to work hard. Still, it annoys him to see Nurmagomedov called the top contender for the 135-pound division after his victory over Cory Sandhagen in August.
Nurmagomedo recently defeated Sandhagen, which was quite impressive for his first fight against a ranked fighter. However, Dvalishvili believes that Russian bantamweight is favored only because of his last name. Khabib Nurmagomedov retired as the UFC lightweight champion without any defeats on his record, and even now, he remains one of the most discussed fighters despite not having stepped into the cage since 2020.
Merab Dvalishvili criticizes Umar
Umar now trains with Khabib after his father Abdulmanap trained ‘The Eagle’ in Dagestan. Even though they are cousins, Dvalishvili believes that Umar received the fight against Sandhagen without deserving it and is now targeting the title shot similarly.
Merab used these words about the rising champion. “Let’s talk about it this way, Umar is a good fighter, we all know this, but he fights nobody from the top 15, and now of course UFC gives him a gift with No. 2 Cory Sandhagen; if he wins.”
Dvalishvili believes that the rising fighter did not give respect to the top fighters. In short, Dvalishvili wants Nurmagomedov to fight other top contenders and eventually climb up the ladder, which is exactly how the process should be.
Merab Dvalishvili wants to be respected and he said this about Umar. “Now he wins, so now he’s right there. He’s been disrespectful. He’s calling out Sean O’Malley, he’s calling out me. Like bro, give us respect and let us fight and chill out a little bit. What the f*ck? You don’t fight nobody and now you just got here. Your last name is Nurmagomedov because you’re Khabib’s cousin.”
Final Thoughts
If we look at the statistics of fighters, Dvalishvili is not wrong either. Umar is a good fighter, but being good does not make you eligible to fight the champions of the division. Figueiredo would be a great match for Umar. And that’s the match that would make sense. What are your thoughts about Merab Dvalishvili’s opinion about the rising star Umar Nurmagomedov? Feel free to use the comment section to let us know.
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