Umar Nurmagomedov Unfazed by Potential Merab Dvalishvili Exit From UFC 311 Title Fight
Umar Nurmagomedov wouldn’t be surprised if Merab Dvalishvili pulled out of their clash at UFC 311.
After securing a dominant victory over Sean O’Malley in September to claim the bantamweight title, Dvalishvili will put his gold up for grabs against Nurmagomedov, the No. 2 ranked contender, on January 18 in Los Angeles.
Almost immediately after his title-winning performance at UFC 306, ‘The Machine’ tried to discredit Nurmagomedov’s status as the next man in line, pointing at his lack of wins over top 15 opponents.
Unfortunately for Dvalishvili, he didn’t make a strong enough case and the promotion moved forward with plans to give the undefeated Dagestani his first shot at UFC gold in 2025.
During an interview with the UFC, Nurmagomedov spoke about the possibility of his opponent pulling out of the bout.
“I will not be surprised and nobody will be surprised,” Nurmagomedov said. “Even right now, I saw like commentary on Twitter, they said he will pull out, but he never pulled out before. I hope he will not and the fight is going to happen” (h/t MMA Junkie).
Umar Nurmagomedov thinks ‘The Machine’ only wants opponents he knows he can beat
Nurmagomedov goes into the co-main event clash with a perfect 18-0 record, six of those wins coming under the UFC banner. The biggest of those victories came in August when Nurmagomedov scored a decisive unanimous decision victory over Cory Sandhagen, skyrocketing him from the back of the bantamweight rankings to the second-ranked spot.
Whether or not Nurmagomedov deserves the shot he’s been given varies depending on who you’re talking to, but regardless, the Dagestani believes there is no path to victory for his Georgian opposition.
“I think he just wants to fight with a real guy he can beat,” Nurmagomedov said. “It doesn’t mean I’m really going to 100 percent go inside the cage and smash him, no. He knows other guys, he will beat. With me, it’s going to be hard. That’s why he’s trying to be a champion for a long time, and he wants to fight with O’Malley, with Petr Yan, or someone else because these guys, easy money. Me, no. For me, he has to go deep waters. With me it’s going to be a long night. I will not give him takedowns, he will not control me.
“I have good skills, striking skills, and I can make for him a lot of problems. That’s why, but when we go inside the cage, I will not think he’s scared of me. I will know that this is a man who will try to beat me, I will try to smash him, and it’s going to be a battle. What I understand is he doesn’t want to take a risky fight. He can beat me, it can happen. It’s not going to break me. I will be same Umar. Fight is fight. Everybody can lose. …If we’re talking about scared, I just think he doesn’t want to take risk, hard fight.”
