A lot of bantamweights probably heaved a sigh of relief when Merab Dvalishvili lost the 135 pound belt to Petr Yan at UFC 323. “The Machine” had thoroughly cleaned out the top of the division, leaving
few contenders left. Now that he’s fallen, top guys Merab beat like Sean O’Malley and Umar Nurmagomedov are right back in the mix.
But Umar’s training partner Islam Makhachev believes Nurmagomedov shouldn’t try to jump past Dvalishvili into a title shot with Petr Yan. Instead, Umar should be excited at the opportunity to avenge that loss before becoming champion.
“Honestly, I’d be more interested in a fight against Merab,” Makhachev told Ushatayka (via Red Corner MMA). “Because Umar lost the first fight, there were many reasons why, but what can we say about that now? I think Umar can do much better. I know he can outplay Merab. Umar is still young, he has time to get to the belt. It would be good to close out the loss.”
Why wait, though? Why not go for the belt and then defend it against Merab? That’s leaving a few too many things to chance, and Makhachev knows what it’s like having an unavenged loss on his record.
“I have one loss and I’m always thinking, ‘If only I had a chance to close it out, have a rematch,'” Islam said. “And I know that’s no longer possible. But Umar has a good chance now, and Merab is in a good position. He’s No. 1, he’s still going, so I think this fight for Umar [is best]. Maybe he doesn’t think so, but I think for him it would be best to fight Merab.”
Makhachev lost to Adriano Martins via first round knockout back in 2015, but never got his rematch because Martins fell off a career cliff after that fight with only one win in the proceeding decade. Martins losing twice in a row to end his UFC days, then went 1-4-1 on the international circuit. But he can take pride in the fact that he beat the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter, Islam Makhachev. And Makhachev never got a chance to win that one back.
What’s next for Petr Yan is a big topic of discussion at the moment. If Sean O’Malley earns a powerful win at UFC 324, the marketable American fighter could jump right into a title match against Yan — which would be a rematch of their hotly contested contender’s bout in 2022 that “Suga” won. But Umar Nurmagomedov is right in the conversation as well, and his last name is pretty marketable.
