"Bro's a hero for life in Dagestan now" - Fans react to fan hanging out with Umar Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev after Merab Dvalishvili altercation

Merab Dvalishvili has not competed since UFC 306 in September, when he defeated Sean O'Malley via unanimous decision to capture the bantamweight title. His first title defense will take place next month, when he will face Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311.

'The Machine' was recently involved in an altercation with a fan following Aljamain Sterling's unanimous decision loss to Movsar Evloev at UFC 310. Nurmagomedov and lightweight champion Islam Makhachev both shared photos with the fan after the incident. Championship Rounds reposted the images from their respective Instagram stories to X, captioning the tweet:

"The fan who got into a fight with Merab at #UFC310 was hanging out with Umar Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev after the fights last night 😭 🎥 @InsideFighting_ #UFC #MMA"

Check out the tweet from Championship Rounds below:

Fans reacted to the photos of the fan with Nurmagomedov and Makhachev. @CurioSynapse claimed that the fan will now be a hero in Dagestan:

"Bro's a hero for life in Dagestan now 😂 😂"

@Sports_Alien_OG labeled the No.2-ranked bantamweight as smart following the incident:

"Omg Umar is so smart he's gonna make Merab crashed out even more now 😅 😭"

@Heisenberg__MMA criticized Nurmagomedov for the incident:

"If there’s beef with Merab, it should be handled by the fighters themselves, not by sending others in to escalate things. Professionalism should always come first!!"

@RedCacheREAL noted that the other party involved in the incident does not appear to be a random fan:

"Check out his instagram.. he got followed by most of the dagestani kazakh fighters… even khabib.. definitely not some guy…"

Check out the best fan reactions below:

Fan reactions

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Merab Dvalishvili blames Umar Nurmagomedov for fan altercation

Merab Dvalishvili took aim at Umar Nurmagomedov following his UFC 310 altercation. The bantamweight champion took to Instagram on Sunday to blame his upcoming opponent for the incident. 'The Machine' used a voiceover to state:

"Exposing the guy who grabs Merab's arm physically and assaults him is not just a fan but teammate and friend of Umar and Dagestanis... Turns out he is not just fan from Kazakhstan, but a provoker, and as Merab said, he was insulting him. Later that day, Umar posts story with the guy and his squad. And there is even more pictures from years ago with him and Dagestanis... This was just Dagestanis dirty trick and provocation."

Check out Merab Dvalishvili's post blaming Umar Nurmagomedov for the fan altercation below:

The video added that the fan claimed Dvalishvili was disrespecting Shavkat Rakhmonov. The bantamweight champion noted that him and 'Nomad' are on good terms and the incident was not related to the No.3-ranked welterweight.