Outside Source
Dvalishvili lost his bantamweight title in a rematch against Petr Yan at UFC 323 this past December. Dvalishvili now expects to challenge Yan for the title in a trilogy. Meanwhile, former champion Sean O’Malley is scheduled to fight top contender Aiemann Zahabi at UFC White House on June 14.
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Dvalishvili was recently attending a presser for his upcoming wrestling match against Frankie Edgar at RAF 9. Dvalishvili was asked if he would consider a rematch against Nurmagomedov in case the winner of O’Malley vs. Zahabi jumped the queue for the next title shot. Dvalishvili confidently doubled down on his claims of a confirmed trilogy against Yan. “The Machine” then completely dismissed Nurmagomedov.
Bad Blood Lingers
“What kind of question is this?” Dvalishvsili said. “I’m sure you know I’m fighting Petr Yan, it’s gonna be trilogy. He beat me last fight and we have to fight again. But who the f—k is Umar, bro? Who cares about him?”
When Dvalishvili (21-5) first won the title against O’Malley in 2024, the then-unbeaten Nurmagomedov started calling for a title shot against the Georgian. Dvalishvili initially turned down Nurmagomedov, calling for a rematch against O’Malley instead. Fans soon started accusing Dvalishvili of ducking Nurmagomedov, who was then considered to be his biggest threat. Dvalishvili eventually accepted the fight and successfully defended his title against Nurmagomedov, handing the Dagestani his first professional loss.
Dvalishvili repeatedly accused Nurmagomedov of disrespecting him, although there was barely any bad blood between the two apart from the customary trash talk. Dvalishvili repeatedly clarified that he has immense respect for Umar’s teammates Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev. However, Dvalishvili didn’t harbor the same respect towards Umar and accused him of receiving privileges for being related to Khabib. Nurmagomedov (20-1) has rebounded with wins over Mario Bautista and Deiveson Figueiredo since his loss to Dvalishvili.
Merab is still Umar Nurmagomedov‘s #1 hater 😭
🗣️ Media: “If O’Malley knocks out Zahabi at the White House and skips over you for a title shot, would you accept a #1 contender fight with Umar?”
🗣️ Merab: “What kind of question is this? I’m fighting Petr Yan, it’s gonna be… pic.twitter.com/YhWeTYYJzk
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) May 29, 2026
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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