lia Topuria is ready to throw gasoline on the latest chapter of the Georgia-Dagestan rivalry.
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili was left bloodied on Wednesday after an altercation involving Professional Fighters League (PFL) star Usman Nurmagomedov and several members of his entourage inside an Abu Dhabi hotel.
Dvalishvili and his younger friend were ambushed from behind while filming an interview ahead of this weekend’s Real American Freestyle (RAF)
event.
“What a sneaky way,” Dvalishvili said afterward. “Just two of us, me and my friend, came here to Abu Dhabi, and Usman Nurmagomedov and his friends came like snakes from behind.”
Topuria subsequently released 37 seconds of footage from the incident. The video shows Nurmagomedov approaching Dvalishvili from behind and then slapping him before an all-out brawl erupts (watch it here).
Topuria initially captioned the footage, “You’re a bunch of cowards, and you’ll be held accountable for what you’ve done. You’re anything but real men.” He later deleted that post but quickly issued a much longer statement condemning the Nurmagomedov team.
“Usman has reportedly been detained, along with the cowards who were with him,” Topuria wrote on X.
“And these are the same people who dare to preach about humility and respect? What a disgrace. A bunch of absolute cowards.
I always thought you were a bunch of mediocre individuals. Now you’ve removed every last doubt.
Honor, respect and humility aren’t words you preach. They’re values you live by. And you’ve shown none of them.”
Topuria’s claim that Nurmagomedov and his associates were detained has not been confirmed. Neither Abu Dhabi authorities nor RAF officials had publicly addressed any potential arrests at the time of publication.
The ugly incident appears to be connected to Dvalishvili’s longstanding rivalry with Usman’s cousin, Umar Nurmagomedov. “The Machine” defeated Umar in their UFC 311 title fight in Jan. 2025, and the bad blood has continued outside the Octagon.
Dvalishvili also accused Umar of being present during Wednesday’s attack. Umar is scheduled to wrestle UFC Hall of Famer Urijah Faber at RAF Abu Dhabi, while Dvalishvili is expected to meet former UFC opponent Marlon Moraes on the same card.
Despite suffering a cut that left his face covered in blood, Dvalishvili insisted he was fine. As of publication, his wrestling match with Moraes remains scheduled for Saturday.
