Merab Dvalishvili got his whole team together to poke fun at Umar Nurmagomedov ahead of their upcoming UFC 311 title fight.
Just hours after their UFC 311 fight announcement, the bad blood boiled between UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili and undefeated contender Umar Nurmagomedov. After Dvalishvili initially appeared to dismiss Nurmagomedov’s title shot case, he’ll face the undefeated bantamweight in his first title defense.
Ahead of their UFC 311 grudge match, Dvalishvili and Nurmagomedov came face-to-face at a pre-fight press conference last week. The press conference was advertised, as just hours before, Dvalishvili and Nurmagomedov nearly got into an all-out brawl backstage.
During the press conference, Dvalishvili threw a hilarious jibe at Nurmagomedov and his teammate, Islam Makhachev, over a years-old photo of Makhachev and other Team Khabib members in a hot tub. While Makhachev seemed to take Dvalishvili’s jibe in stride, Nurmagomedov was confused by Dvalishvili’s reference, as it appeared he wasn’t in the original photo.
Days after their UFC 311 pre-fight press conference, Dvalishvili notched his trolling up a whole level by recreating the infamous Team Khabib hot tub photo.
Merab Dvalishvili viciously trolls Umar Nurmagomedov with jacuzzi recreation
“Thank[s] for taking the pic Khabib’s Cousin – we are good for now until the fight. See you on January 18th. LFG,” Dvalishvili posted to his X account on Wednesday.
You can see Dvalishvili’s recreation below, which quickly made the rounds on social media. Dvalishvili got his whole team together for it, including former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling.
As of this writing, Nurmagomedov nor any of his teammates have responded to Dvalishvili’s troll job. Nurmagomedov and Dvalishvili have traded barbs online for months, stemming from when Dvalishvili made the case for Deiveson Figueiredo to earn a title shot over Nurmagomedov.
Nurmagomedov earned the title shot after recent wins over Cory Sandhagen, Bekzat Almakhan, and Raoni Barcelos. He’s the cousin of UFC Hall of Famer Khabib Nurmagomedov, who will be in his corner for UFC 311.
@MerabDvalishvil / X
Mind games are ramping up between Merab Dvalishvili and Umar Nurmagomedov
Things didn’t cool down after Dvalishvili and Nurmagomedov’s altercations at the UFC 311 press conference. As Dvalishvili left T-Mobile Arena at UFC 310 after cornering Sterling, a Nurmagomedov ally threw insults at Dvalishvili and got into a punchout with Dvalishvili’s teammate, Dennis Buzukja.
After it was initially thought that Merab Dvalishvili got into it with a random fan in the crowd at UFC 310, the fan was linked to Nurmagomedov’s team after a series of photos of them together made the rounds online. As of this writing, it’s uncertain if the Nevada State Athletic Commission is investigating the incident and if punishments will be served.
Ahead of UFC 311, bad blood is boiling between Dvalishvili and Nurmagomedov. But Dvalishvili’s recent post signaled some lighthearted fun amid their budding rivalry.