Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is apparently returning to “The City of Angels” in Jan. 2025.
Merab Dvalishvili is fresh off a five-round Bantamweight champion fight against Sean O’Malley, in which he dominated en route to a unanimous decision from inside Sphere in Las Vegas, and is waiting for the date for his first Bantamweight title defense.
While O’Malley is trying to bait the Georgian fighter into an immediate rematch, all signs point to a clash between Dvalishvilli and No. 1 contender Umar Nurmagomedov—as it should.
Dvalishvili believes Nurmagomedov is undeserving, and the pair of Bantamweights have been jawing at each other on social media for a few weeks now.
Yesterday (Weds., Oct. 2, 2024), Nurmagomedov took to Twitter to challenge “The Machine” to a fight in Jan., which he says will happen in Los Angeles.
Hey Merab you know that Ramadan is in March and knowing this you insist on March, in February the tournament will be held in Australia and they won’t put us there.
There is a tournament in Los Angeles in January – let’s fight there, and there is enough time to prepare.
Stop…— Umar Nurmagomedov (@UNmgdv) October 2, 2024
“Hey Merab you know that Ramadan is in March and knowing this you insist on March,” Nurmagomedov wrote. “In February the tournament will be held in Australia and they won’t put us there. There is a tournament in Los Angeles in January – let’s fight there, and there is enough time to prepare. Stop looking for excuses. Give the people what they want, everyone who follows our weight – wants to see this fight.”
If you take it at face value, there is much information to dissect from Nurmagomedov’s tweet.
Dvalishvili wants to return in March and UFC is headed to L.A. in Jan. and then to Australia in Feb.
MMAMania.com can confirm, per multiple sources, that when the UFC returns to Los Angeles, the event will be held at the brand-new Intuit Dome, home of the Los Angeles Clippers. We can also confirm that the UFC will go to Australia twice in 2025.
It makes sense for Nurmagomedov to want to compete in the first pay-per-view of 2025 because he observes Ramadan every year and will be unable to compete.
Unfortunately for Dvalishvilli, that would mean he would miss the holidays this year as he would jump straight into fight camp, and I have a feeling he wants to celebrate his title for longer than four months.
For now, Nurmagomedov will compete in a grappling match later this month.
To checkout UFC’s upcoming schedule of events click here.