Newly-minted UFC bantamweight titleholder Merab Dvalishvili, who captured the crown from “Suga” Sean O’Malley atop the UFC 306 pay-per-view (PPV) card last month at Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada, does not want to fight No. 2-ranked Umar Nurmagomedov.
“The Machine” is certainly not the first UFC champion to snub a dangerous top contender. In this case, Dvalishvili seems to have the support of the promotion in light of recent reports that Nurmagomedov will return against Song Yadong later this year in Tampa.
A fan demanded answers during Friday’s UFC 308 Q&A in Abu Dhabi.
“Let’s boo to this guy!” Dvalishvili told the crowd. “I don’t scared of no one, only God. Where is this guy? He taking fight, he scared! He’s fighting somebody else, where is he? Where is he? Tell me! He wants to get knocked down from somebody and then he’s gonna make excuse, he’s not gonna make this fight! I’m not making fight, Dana White and Hunter [Campbell] make decision who I’m gonna fight next. I don’t make decision, I never make decision. If Dana White tell me I have to fight Umar, I’m fighting Umar. But, you know what? Umar don’t deserve to fight me! Sean O’Malley deserve to fight me and I’m gonna rematch him! He deserve it and after, Umar has to prove and I will fight him.”
O’Malley may not compete for at least a year after recent surgery.
There’s not much competition for the top spot in the division unless Nurmagomedov loses to Yadong. There’s always the outside chance that Deiveson Figueiredo could draw the golden ticket, but he would first need to get past former champ Petr Yan at UFC Macau.
The UFC schedule appears to be set for the remainder of 2024, so we’re unlikely to get any new updates until early 2025. Matchmakers may be waiting to see what happens in the upcoming fights featuring Nurmagomedov and Figueiredo before pulling the trigger.