Umar Nurmagomedov Weighs In on Merab Dvalishvili’s Title Loss: “Merab fought a lot in one year, and it’s not easy”
Umar Nurmagomedov has once more given his two cents on the UFC 323 headliner, which was a title fight between Merab Dvalishvili and Petr Yan.
Dvalishvili, who was making the fourth defense of his bantamweight title in 2025, in an attempt to make history, fell short against ‘No Mercy’ in their rematch in December 2025.
Yan landed the cleaner, more effective shots, shrugged off Dvalishvili’s relentless pressure, stuffed the takedown attempts, scored his own takedowns, and cruised to a comfortable unanimous decision to reclaim the title.
Umar Nurmagomedov, who lost to ‘The Machine’ at UFC 311, recently gave his assessment of Dvalishvili’s title loss. He told Paramount UFC Crew:
“My prediction was Petr, you know. Merab fought a lot in one year, and it’s not easy. But for me, it doesn’t matter.”
After losing to Dvalishvili, Umar returned to winning ways against Mario Bautista at UFC 321. This weekend, he will be taking on Deiveson Figueiredo.
If the Russian bantamweight wins at UFC 324, he plans on taking on Yan next. However, since ‘No Mercy’ will most likely meet Merab Dvalishvili again to complete their trilogy, which now stands at 1-1, Umar might have to wait a little longer for another title opportunity.
Hence, if he’s not next in line, he plans to fight again in the meantime. In the same interview, he added:
“I just want to win this fight, and after that, even if I’m not next in line, I want to fight again.”
Check out Umar Nurmagomedov’s comments below:
Umar Nurmagomedov thinks Petr Yan will beat Merab Dvalishvili “10 out of 10 times”
Umar Nurmagomedov knows that if ‘The Machine’ becomes the bantamweight champion again, securing a rematch with him would be extremely difficult, as the Georgian has little interest in fighting Umar. Hence, the 30-year-old Russian fighter appears to be rooting for Petr Yan to retain the title, and his comments strongly suggest the same.
Umar recently claimed that even if Merab Dvalishvili takes a three-year break and faces Yan for a third time, he still wouldn’t be able to dethrone the latter. He told Red Corner MMA:
“I think even if you give Merab a three-year break and make him face a healthy version of Petr Yan, Petr will beat him 10 out of 10 times.”
Check out Umar Nurmagomedov’s comments below:
