Merab Dvalishvili on Umar Nurmagomedov before UFC 311: ‘I want to be good with him again’

LOS ANGELES – Dressed in an all-burgundy suit with a matching vest underneath, bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili walked into a hotel ballroom for UFC 311 media day with unusual low energy, and that’s probably because he had a lot on his mind.

For starters, Dvalishvili, who claimed the 135-pound title this past September with a dominant win over Sean O’Malley, preferred a six-month turnaround as opposed to making his first title defense four months later. There’s also an injury he’s been dealing with, the details of which he wouldn’t divulge, but he made it clear “training was difficult” because of it.

At the top of the list, though, is the budding feud with Umar Nurmagomedov, which they will settle Saturday as Dvalishvili puts his belt on the line in the UFC 311 (pay-per-view, ESPNews/Disney+, ESPN+) co-main event at Intuit Dome. Things got heated between the two men at a press conference in early December, which seemingly has bothered Dvalishvili ever since given he and Nurmagomedov were on good terms before then.

As much as fans and pundits might think Dvalishvili hates Nurmagomedov, he insisted that’s not the case.

“It’s not true. I don’t need to hate nobody,” Dvalishvili said. “You guys know I was kissing Sean O’Malley (during the UFC 306 headliner). I had so much fun inside the octagon. I was smiling there. I don’t need to hate nobody. I don’t hate nobody, but it was things that Umar disrespect me. He called me a fake champion, which I’m not a fake champion. …

“He mentioned my country, and he still continued to disrespect me. This is not right, especially from him because I know him. Every time I see him, I give him my respect. I was cool with him, and I know him as a person. This is not like a video game, something talking trash. We are real people. To get disrespect from Umar, I was mad.”

And now with their fight just a few days away?

“Now it’s all good,” Dvalishvili said. “We have fight week. I’m positive.”

The fight between Dvalishvili and Nurmagomedov is compelling for a couple of reasons. It figures to be a high-level display of wrestling given their backgrounds. They’re also currently two of the winningest fighters on the UFC roster, having won a combined 29 fights in a row.

Nurmagomedov’s overall 18-0 record includes wins in his first six UFC bouts, most recently beating contender Cory Sandhagen last August. Dvalishvili, meanwhile, will enter UFC 311 on an 11-fight winning streak that includes some of the biggest names in the division – Jose Aldo, Petr Yan, Henry Cejudo, and O’Malley.

Win or lose, Dvalishvili hopes to reconcile with Nurmagomedov after the fight ends.

“Of course, I want to shake hands, and I want to give him respect,” Dvalishvili said. “I want to be good with him again. We have to settle this one now. We are men. That’s OK. Sometimes we will fight. I’m just upset that he disrespected me. He should not disrespect me. I don’t want to have an enemy.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 311.