Merab Dvalishvili Names One Former Opponent He Still Won’t Cheer For
UFC bantamweight kingpin Merab Dvalishvili recently revealed there is one former rival he simply cannot bring himself to cheer for.
In a candid chat with Daniel Cormier, Dvalishvili shared that he usually roots for his former opponents, believing their victories after facing him help restore their reputations as top fighters. ‘The Machine’ also said that despite his differences with Petr Yan, he still roots for ‘No Mercy’ whenever the latter enters the octagon.
However, there is one UFC fighter whom Dvalishvili never roots for, and that is Umar Nurmagomedov. Umar and Dvalishvili locked horns earlier this year at UFC 311, and the challenger lost via unanimous decision. The 29-year-old claimed after the loss that his performance was subpar because he broke his arm in between rounds.
Previously, Merab Dvalishvili was also called a “fake champion” by the Russian fighter.
To date, ‘The Machine’ has also taken several digs at Umar, before and after their fight, and the beef has not been squashed. Recently, he told ‘DC’:
“The only guy I don’t cheer for is Umar, you know. When he was fighting [Mario] Bautista, I was cheering for Bautista. He [Umar] is a little spoiled… He lets others use his Twitter to target me.”
The MMA world is well aware of Ali Abdelaziz using his clients’ accounts to promote or build up fights, even if Dvalishvili did not specify who used Umar’s account.
Check out Merab Dvalishvili’s comments below:
Merab Dvalishvili does not want to give Umar Nurmagomedov a second chance
This weekend at UFC 323, if Merab Dvalishvili gets past Petr Yan in their bantamweight title rematch, ‘The Machine’ wants to fight surging contenders next instead of rematches.
He has expressed interest in fighting Payton Talbott and Song Yadong if the two win their upcoming fights. Other than them, the Georgian phenom wants to fight Aiemann Zahabi, the brother of Firas Zahabi. Aiemann is on a seven-fight UFC win streak and is currently the No.7-ranked bantamweight contender.
Dvalishvili has no plans of moving up to featherweight anytime soon.
