Merab Dvalishvili accuses Umar Nurmagomedov of faking injury ahead of UFC 311: "See in the video he posted"

Merab Dvalishvili last entered the octagon in September, when he defeated Sean O'Malley via unanimous decision at UFC 306 to capture the bantamweight title. He will attempt to defend the belt for the first time this weekend against Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311.

'The Machine' recently aimed at his upcoming opponent, accusing 'Young Eagle' of faking an injury. Speaking to Mike Heck Jr. of MMA Fighting, Dvalishvili was asked about Nurmagomedov pulling out of his planned bout against Song Yadong due to injury, responding:

"He's bulls**tting. He's a bulls**t guy. I'm not buying his bulls**t... His injury. Like, he has little injury in his arm. I had injury, big injury, but I don't mention this. I'm not bringing it up this one. Everybody has an injury. Every professional fighter has an injury."

Dvalishvili continued:

"He's bulls**ting. He says he was training and I saw he was punching bags very good when he arrived in Vegas. You can go and see in the video he posted. He was punching bag and if you have any problem with your hand, you won't be able to punch the bag. He was punching bags very normal and I think he's just mentioning this to make some excuse."

Check out Merab Dvalishvili's full comments on Umar Nurmagomedov below:

Dvalishvili has made it clear that he is not a fan of Nurmagomedov during the lead-up to UFC 311. He has accused the No. 2-ranked bantamweight of riding the coattails of his cousin, UFC Hall of Famer Khabib Nurmagomedov.

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Merab Dvalishvili invites neighbor Aljamain Sterling to watch fights

Merab Dvalishvili and Aljamain Sterling have maintained a close friendship, even refusing to face one another for the bantamweight title. 'The Machine' revealed that they are neighbors during episode two of UFC 311 Embedded: Vlog Series, inviting 'Funk Master' over to watch UFC Fight Night 249.

The bantamweight champion opened his front door and yelled out, stating:

"Aljo! What's up, my friend? Aljo! Yeah, yeah, it's okay. Don't worry, he's going to hear me. My neighbor! Hey! He's right there. Come watch fights here. Looking like middleweight, my brother."

Sterling, who lives a few houses down, jogged over to his teammate's house, adding:

"Yeah, Merab and I didn't plan to live like this close. It just kind of worked its way out."

Check out the footage of Merab Dvalishvili and Aljamain Sterling below:

Dvalishvili and Sterling have been adamant that their friendship means more to them than competition, turning down the opportunity to clash. It appears that they are much closer than fans have realized as they live just a few doors apart from one another.