Merab Dvalishvili doesn’t seem totally over his beef with Umar Nurmagomedov.
The two fought five hard rounds at UFC 311 back in January, and Dvalishvili walked away the champion via unanimous decision. However, “The Machine” never really wanted to face Dvalishvili, arguing that the Russian standout hadn’t yet earned a title shot and was being pushed into the mix because of his last name. There was a short period where fans were actually accusing Dvalishvili of ducking, but Dvalishvili shut that narrative
down by taking the fight and winning just a couple short months after dethroning Sean O’Malley.
Six months later, Dvalishvili still isn’t impressed by Nurmagomedov. In a recent interview with Kolos_MMA, Dvalishvili explained that he still ranks Petr Yan over “Young Eagle” because of Yan’s activity and numerous top wins, and he wonders why Nurmagomedov hasn’t booked a return.
“Because Petr has already had many fights with top fighters,” Dvalishvili explained after naming Yan as the better fighter. “He has more experience. He’s constantly active, constantly fighting.”
“Umar, we’ve only seen him fight against me and Cory. He needs to fight the top guys in the division. Sure, Umar is a good fighter, but he needs to stay busy all the time. Where is he now? Why isn’t he fighting?”
Despite Nurmagomedov’s inactivity, UFC CEO Dana White is still interested in a rematch. If Nurmagomedov returns to the win column sometime this year, he could find himself next-in-line for another shot ... likely to Dvalishvili’s chagrin!
As of writing, however, Nurmagomedov remains unbooked.
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