UFC’s bantamweight division today is dramatically different from what it was last week. After all, not only did Merab Dvalishvili defeat Sean O’Malley but embarrassed him in their UFC 306 clash to become the new 135-pound king.
And it is precisely because of ‘Suga’s lackluster performance (and a hip injury), that the former champ has virtually no prospects of getting an immediate rematch.
This, of course, means that the bantamweight title picture is open. Not wide open, mind you, since there are only two real contenders for ‘The Machine’s first title defense: former flyweight champ Deiveson Figueiredo and more realistically, #2 ranked undefeated Umar Nurmagomedov.
In fact, Umar Nurmagomedov (who is Khabib’s cousin), is the clear favorite for the new champ’s next opponent. At least according to most fans, analysts, and even UFC insiders. But Dvalishvili doesn’t think so. In fact, he finds Umar calling for a fight with him ‘disrespectful’. Why? Because the Georgian champ doesn’t think Umar deserves to be where he is in the division and was pushed by the UFC because he is Khabib‘s cousin.
But Umar Nurmagomedov is undeterred. The #2 ranked 135-pounder joined Henry Cejudo and Kamaru Usman on their ‘Pound 4 Pound’ podcast, and was asked by ‘Triple C’: “Why does he [Dvalishvili] say that you’ve been disrespectful?”
To which the undefeated Dagestani explained it was precisely his wish to fight the champ that had made him so mad. However, he is determined to be ‘disrespectful’ towards ‘The Machine’ if that is what he needs to do to get a title shot.
“Because I want to fight with him. I don’t know what for him [is] respect? If I will say to him, ‘Hey I don’t want to fight with Merab, I respect him, leave him alone, he have to be champion until he wants [to] retire,’ [maybe] it’s respect for him? If yes, sorry, I will disrespect you,” he said, warning Dvalishvili of what he can expect in the coming days.
But despite this purported disrespect, Dvalishvili is ready and willing to fight the undefeated Dagestani.