Umar Nurmagomedov's "more Georgian" dig prompts Merab Dvalishvili to deliver unfiltered rant on 'Young Eagle's' nationality: "Going to get slapped"

Umar Nurmagomedov has not entered the octagon since his win over Cory Sandhagen via unanimous decision at UFC on ABC 7 in August, last year. He will make his return at UFC 311 this weekend, receiving the first title shot of his UFC career as he challenges Merab Dvalishvili for the bantamweight belt.

The two have exchanged words in the lead up to the bout, with things taking a personal turn. Their feud recently became even more heated as 'Young Eagle' claimed he is more Georgian than 'The Machine'. Speaking on the Full Send Podcast, the No. 2-ranked bantamweight stated:

"You think everybody have to respect to Merab and they will? A lot of guys don't care about Merab and they don't think he is a man. Even me, I think I'm the more Georgian and man more than him. If we look at how he follows Georgian tradition, okay, he represents his country with tattoo and with black papakha and what else? What about life outside the doors? Anybody's [a better role model] than him."

Dvalishvili fired back, claiming he will slap his opponent for the comments:

"He's going to get slapped for that... Bro, he represents nothing. He can't represent Dagestan. He's not Russian. He's not Georgian. He can't represent nothing. He's not Russian. He's from Dagestan, but he represents Russia. What kind of - and then he's saying he's Georgian now. Good luck."

Check out Umar Nurmagomedov and Merab Dvalishvili's comments below:

Nurmagomedov and Dvalishvili have exchanged plenty of insults in the lead up to their clash. The two will finally have the opportunity to settle their differences when they clash at UFC 311 this weekend.

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Merab Dvalishvili claims Umar Nurmagomedov lied about injury

Merab Dvalishvili has made it clear that he is not a fan of Umar Nurmagomedov ahead of their bantamweight title clash. 'The Machine' recently claimed that his upcoming opponent lied about an injury.

Speaking to Mike Heck Jr. of MMA Fighting, the bantamweight champion claimed every professional fighter deals with injuries before adding:

"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:

The accusation is the latest in a long list of complaints Dvalishvili has had about Nurmagomedov. It is unclear what sparked the rivalry, however, he has made it clear that he believes 'Young Eagle' is riding the coattails of his cousin, Khabib Nurmagomedov.