Umar Nurmagomedov doesn’t have a reputation as a prolific trash talker but he finds it rather funny that Merab Dvalishvili has been so offended by whatever he’s said ahead of their fight at UFC 311.
Long before the matchup was made official, Dvalisvhili screamed to the heavens that Nurmagomedov was disrespecting him and didn’t deserve the opportunity to compete for the UFC bantamweight title after just six fights in the promotion. Dvalishvili also got rather upset by a backstage interaction during a UFC 311 press conference this past December where he claims he confronted the Russian fighter over his perceived disrespect and Nurmagomedov told him he said what he said “because I wanted to [and] what are you going to do about it?”
Nurmagomedov didn’t deny the interaction but he also added that Dvalishvili’s anger towards him was really misguided, especially given the circumstances surrounding how their fight came together.
“Of course, I remember that moment,” Nurmagomedov said during UFC 311 media day. “When he asked to me, I saw him, I smiled at him and go to do an interview. He come to ask me ‘why you disrespect me?’ OK, he has a question why you disrespect me? I want to tell him what are you talking about? Exactly what did I say? You’re too sensitive. Explain to me. He’s talking about ‘why are you disrespecting me? Why are you disrespecting me?’ I’m not his son. He can’t ask me like father and son ‘why do you do this?’ He’s not my father. Of course, I want to tell him because what can you do?
“If you guys can find anything where I said with his name Merab — Merab is a coward, Merab is a bullshit guy or anything else — show me.”
If anything, Nurmagomedov believes he had the right to be upset towards Dvalishvili after the reigning UFC bantamweight champion continuously discounted him as a rightful contender for the belt.
Dvalishvili went to great lengths to discredit Nurmagomedov’s claim to a title shot while touting former champions like Petr Yan and Sean O’Malley as more worthy challengers.
“He does some video where he’s a teacher and he shows why Petr Yan deserves [the title shot] more than me, of course I will tell him Merab, don’t be scared,” Nurmagomedov said. “Nobody understood why you’re trying to avoid [me].
“Dana [White] said I’m next. Joe Rogan after his fight asked to him ‘what about Umar? He’s the next challenger.’ Everywhere he tried to avoid, right? But it’s not like me what I said. All words, all fans said ‘Merab’s trying to avoid this fight, he’s looking bad’ and what else I have to do?”
Nurmagomedov says ultimately Dvalishvili didn’t do himself any favors by pushing for all these other fights when the UFC made it clear who he would be facing in his first title defense.
That’s really what came back to bite him and Nurmagomedov believes Dvalishvili has no one to blame but himself for how he’s being perceived.
“Of course he’s nervous,” Nurmagomedov said. “Maybe he’s upset with the UFC. They pushed him to fight with me. Even before when he was not champion, he don’t take this fight. He doesn’t want to fight with me. When he became champion, I think he tried to fight with other ones because other guys are going to be an easy fight for him.
“He can’t tell anything to UFC, to Dana [White], like he can’t show them. He’s always talking like he’s a company guy but they pushed me to fight with me.”
When it comes to his championship credentials, Nurmagomedov doesn’t know why Dvalishvili is getting so bent out of shape.
Nurmagomedov knows there’s no straight line to a title shot because some fighters get that opportunity quicker than others and he’s only taking the opportunities being afforded to him.
“Some of them fight for the title after a one [fight] win streak,” Nurmagomedov explained. “Some of them fight for the title in his debut fight.
“It does not make sense to tell this that I fought for the title because of my cousin’s name, because of Khabib’s name, or the UFC pushed me. Aljamain Sterling fought for the after a five [fight] win streak. Why can’t I fight for the title after six [wins]?”
For all the bad blood that’s simmered to the surface ahead of the fight, Nurmagomedov is happy to finally put it all behind him and just settle things with Dvalishvili in the octagon.
“I don’t care what he says, what he wants,” Nurmagomedov said. “Cage is going to close and we’re going to show who is the best fighter.”
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