Ahead of his own surge to the bantamweight title at Noche UFC next month, Merab Dvalishvili claims the unbeaten, Umar Nurmagomedov has somewhat “cheated” his way to a shot at gold – given his ties to former champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Dvalishvili, the current number one ranked bantamweight contender is slated to return to action next month at the Las Vegas Sphere, headlining Noche UFC in a title fight grudge match with the incumbent, Sean O’Malley.
Sidelined since UFC 298 earlier this annum, Dvalishvili earned a much-deserved shot at bantamweight spoils with a shutout unanimous decision win over former two-weight champion, Henry Cejudo in Anaheim.
For Nurmagomedov the unbeaten Russian challenger turned in the most high-profile victory of his Octagon tenure to date, landing a one-sided unanimous decision win over streaking number two ranked challenger, Cory Sandhagen over the weekend at UFC Abu Dhabi.
Merab Dvalishvili hits out at Umar Nurmagomedov
And tipped to take on the victor of next month’s title showdown between O’Malley and Dvalishvili, the Georgian has claimed Nurmagomedov’s rise to title contention is “cheating” – given his run through contenders who are not ranked within the top-15.
“Umar (Nurmagomedov), let’s see,” Merab Dvalishvili told HeavyweightMMA. “He has a big test now. I know the UFC [are] pushing him. He don’t deserve the push like this. He’s a good fighter, but he beat nobody and he’s ranked number ten. Now, he’s fighting number two. He has a push because we all know why. He’s Khabib’s cousin. He’s a good fighter. I have all the respect [for] him.”
“It leaves me heartbroken when you see sometimes when you working hard I wasn’t sure if I was getting a title fight until two weeks ago,” Merab Dvalishvili explained. “He’s a good fighter, but we will see. I’m not excited for this fight because I know he got here easy. He’s a good fighter but he got pushed. It’s like cheating a little bit to get here. I have 12 fights in the UFC, O beat like seven or eight ranked fighters Umar don’t fight any ranked fighters yet.”