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UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili mocked his recent opponent Umar Nurmagomedov for his pre-fight statements. In January 2025, Dvalishvili made his first title defense against Nurmagomedov in the co-main event of UFC 311.
‘Young Eagle’ started strong, but from the third round onward, his Georgian counterpart dominated the fight. Ultimately, Dvalishvili secured a unanimous decision victory, with the judges scoring the bout 47-48, 46-49, and 47-48 in his favor.
Leading up to UFC 311, Dvalishvili and Nurmagomedov engaged in a heated war of words. The Dagestani accused Dvalishvili of ducking him before the fight was officially announced. Tensions escalated further during the pre-event press conference in December 2024, during which the two bantamweights had a fiery exchange.
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In a recent interview with Europop, Dvalishvili mocked the Dagestani fighter, stating that Nurmagomedov was overconfident, and now everyone is laughing at him. The Georgian champion also emphasized that fighters’ words can come back to haunt them, saying:
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"[Umar] thought he would win in every aspect, but everyone saw what happened and now everyone is laughing at him. In general, whatever you say before the fight comes back to you later."
Henry Cejudo shares his thoughts on Merab Dvalishvili vs. Umar Nurmagomedov
In an interview with Home of Fight, former two-division UFC champion Henry Cejudo discussed the Merab Dvalishvili vs. Umar Nurmagomedov fight at UFC 311.
Cejudo initially praised ‘The Machine’ for his high-volume fighting style but claimed that if the fight were judged purely on damage inflicted, then Nurmagomedov would have been the rightful winner. The former bantamweight champion stated:
''It gave me a whole another level of respect for Merab. It's the same thing with DDP and even Belal [Muhammad], you notice like that trend of that fighting style of volume and and just throwing sh*t like it's going to get more popular...It's not like Merab beat the sh*t [out of Nurmagomedov]. If it was a full fight and damage as a whole I would probably give the fight to Umar.''
Check out Henry Cejudo's comments below (10:07):
