Umar Nurmagomedov and Merab Dvalishvili are set to square off against each other on Jan. 18 in a high-stakes UFC bantamweight title fight. The 29-year-old Dagestani contender recently revealed his plans for Dvalishvili’s gameplan in the showdown.
Umar Nurmagomedov joined Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo on their Pound 4 Pound podcast. Cejudo quizzed ‘Young Eagle’ about his strategy for the fight to which he revealed his plan and claimed to be stylistically a “hard” opponent for ‘The Machine’.
“For this fight what I think, I’ll not go back you know. Merab taking takedowns, taking legs when someone’s going up and you wait… You know his wrestling, his punches, I’ll not wait for him, I’ll attack you know, when you attack him, he goes back and when you’re going back you’re very hard to take down and stylistically it’s going to be a very hard fight for him.”
Check out Umar Nurmagomedov’s comments below (1:50):
Dvalishvili won the title after beating Sean O’Malley by a unanimous decision at UFC 306 in September 2024. He dominated O’Malley by employing heavy wrestling in the showdown and outclassed him.
On the other hand, Nurmagomedov also has a strong ground game and is coming off an impressive unanimous decision victory over Cory Sandhagen at UFC on ABC in August 2024.
Merab Dvalishvili claps back at Umar Nurmagomedov
Umar Nurmagomedov and Merab Dvalishvili are headed toward an ultimate showdown and things between the duo continue to heat up. In one of the most recent exchanges between the duo, Nurmagomedov questioned Dvalishvili for not training and living in Georgia.
The comments didn’t go down well with ‘The Machine’, who responded to the 29-year-old at the official weigh-ins. Dvalishvili said:
“Yesterday he was saying, ‘If you’re from Georgia why are you in America?’ God bless America! I came here for work, and I’m working hard and I’m grateful for America. I pay taxes, God bless America. I’m a good citizen and I love living here.”
He further criticized Nurmagomedov for fighting in America and then going back to Dagestan to train at his cousin’s gym:
“Umar, he don’t give a sh*t, he comes here stays for free at his manager’s house and then go to Dagestan and trains for free at his cousin’s gym. Unfortunately I don’t have a cousin that has a big gym in Dagestan.”
Check out Merab Dvalishvili’s response to Umar Nurmagomedov below:
🗣️ “Unfortunately I don’t have a cousin that has a big gym in Dagestan.”
— MMA Orbit (@mma_orbit) January 17, 2025
Merab Dvalishvili responds to Umar Nurmagomedov criticising him for training in America and not Georgia
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