Merab Dvalishvili takes on Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311 as fellow MMA fighters gave their predictions.
Merab is the UFC Bantamweight Champion after having beaten Sean O’Malley at UFC 306 for the belt. He dominated O’Malley in a one-sided unanimous decision to come out victorious. It was only O’Malley’s second defeat, showing the magnitude of the win.
It was also done on the biggest stage at The Sphere, the first combat sports event at the arena. The card generated $22 million. Umar is undefeated, having beaten Cory Sandhagen in his last fight. That took his record to 6-0. Umar said Merab did not want to take this fight, while Merab has downplayed worries over injuries. Here is what other MMA fighters had to say.
Predictions
“I think people are going to realize how good Umar is. Umar is so good technically everywhere, grappling, the striking cardio, and it’s a good, tough fight for Merab. Obviously he has heart, cardio for days. I just think stylistically, it’s a bad matchup,” Belal Muhammad
“Again, it’s a it’s a biased opinion, because Merab and I are good friends. So I’m gonna say Merab, just by just relentless pressure, you know. Taking down standing up, taking down standing up. I think that relentless tenacity of taking him down over and over again. And not to say that Merab will get the takedowns because it’s Merab. He doesn’t always get the takedowns. He’ll shoot 17 times and get three takedowns, but that’s the point. The point is to shoot 17 times, that will to make you tired. So I think he’ll play it faster because Merab has like a third lung,” Ode Osbourne
Further Predictions
“It’s weird because I feel like he’s super confident Merab. And he’s got great skills, and he, you know, he did an amazing job against Sean O’Malley. And I feel like, why not fight Umar? You know, if that’s the guy, it’s so hard for an ex-champion to get a rematch.
“Like, why is he pushing for the rematch? Maybe, maybe it’s an easier paycheck fighting Sean O’Malley than it’s going to be Umar, for sure. I think stylistically, because Umar is such a good wrestler, it’s going to be a much harder fight for Merab. His whole thing is taking guys down, and he has a very low finish rate. So it might be a little bit, I don’t know,” Aiemann Zahabi
“So Merab is currently a champ. I believe he’s not ready to defend his title yet, especially against Umar. Seems like he’s avoiding him. Also Umar, I believe, he maybe needs a couple good wins too,” Petr Yan
Unless I see Alex Pereira and Ilia Topuria on the same card, UFC 311 looks like a potential card of the year so far pic.twitter.com/rXtMfSpdC5
— Eternal MMA (@lefthook25) January 10, 2025
UFC 311 Card
- Islam Makhachev (C) vs. Arman Tsarukyan: UFC lightweight title fight
- Merab Dvalishvili (C) vs. Umar Nurmagomedov: UFC bantamweight title fight
- Jiri Prochazka vs. Jamahal Hill
- Beneil Dariush vs. Renato Moicano
- Kevin Holland vs. Reinier de Ridder
UFC 311 Prelims
- Payton Talbott vs. Raoni Barcelos
- Jailton Almeida vs. Serghei Spivac
- Bogdan Guskov vs. Billy Elekana
- Grant Dawson vs. Diego Ferreira
UFC 311 Early Prelims
- Zachary Reese vs. Azamat Bekoev
- Karol Rosa vs. Ailin Perez
- Rinya Nakamura vs. Muin Gafurov
- Ricky Turcios vs. Bernardo Sopaj
- Tagir Ulanbekov vs. Clayton Carpenter