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Merab Dvalishvili's victory over Umar Nurmagomedov in the co-main event of UFC 311 took the undefeated record away from the Russian fighter. Going into the fight as the oddsmakers' favorite, Nurmagomedov wilted under Dvalishvili's relentless pressure.
The consensus after the fight was that Nuramgomedov won the first two rounds while his Georgian opponent won the final three. However, Joe Rogan made a case for Nurmagomedov to win Round 3 of the fight on a recent episode of his podcast.
A fan reposted a clip of Rogan's comments on X and tagged Dvalishvili, Aljamain Sterling, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and Javier Mendez, alongside Ali Abdelaziz, claiming Umar Nurmagomedov was the rightful winner.
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Reacting to the claim, Sterling shared the fan's post, saying:
"Give it a rest. The right guy won. Life goes on"
Sterling is a close friend of Dvalishvili. When the former was the undisputed bantamweight champion, they refused to fight, despite the UFC seemingly wanting to do so. As such, the Georgian was on a long winning streak before he claimed the title from Sean O'Malley, who had defeated Sterling to become champion at UFC 292.
After losing the title, Sterling moved to featherweight, aiming to become a two-division champion. 'The Funkmaster' won his debut in his new division with a dominant decision victory over Calvin Kattar at UFC 300. However, he lost to the undefeated Movsar Evloev in the next fight at UFC 310.
As for Dvalishvili, a rematch with O'Malley or Petr Yan seems the next move. With 'Sugar' having the promotional machine behind him, Yan might need to win one more before getting a crack at the title again.
What did Joe Rogan say about Merab Dvalishvili vs. Umar Nurmagomedov
As UFC 311 was a domestic PPV, Joe Rogan was in the commentary booth with Daniel Cormier and Jon Anik. The trio was certain the Georgian fighter did enough to win the fight during the fight. However, they seemed to have a change of heart after rewatching it.
On episode 2266 of the Joe Rogan Experience with comic Brian Simpson, the host and guest began speaking about Mike Tyson, Chuck Liddell, Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson, and referees by the end. As they delved into the topic of judging a fight, Rogan spoke about Merab Dvalishvili vs. Umar Nurmagomedov:
"I watched it a couple times, and me and John Anik and Daniel Cormier been going back and forth with text about this. I was like man that third round is so close it's so close I could see judges giving it to Umar".
Rogan expressed interest in a Dvalishvili vs. Nurmagomedov rematch as he realized the fight was closer than initially thought. However, Nurmagomedov might need to win a fight or two before a rematch could happen.
Check out Joe Rogan's comments below (2:30:27):
