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No Fair! Merab Dvalishvili Questions Umar Nurmagomedov’s Quick Route to UFC Title Fight

No Fair! Merab Dvalishvili Questions Umar Nurmagomedov's Quick Route to UFC Title Fight Merab Dvalishvili really doesn’t want to fight Umar Nurmagomedov. From the moment the UFC bantamweight title was wrapped around…

Merab Dvalishvili really doesn’t want to fight Umar Nurmagomedov.

From the moment the UFC bantamweight title was wrapped around his waist in September, Dvalishvili has been very vocal about his disdain for the undefeated Dagestani standout and his lack of wins against ranked opponents.

Regardless, Nurmagomedov will have an opportunity to claim his first world title when he challenges ‘The Machine’ at UFC 311 on January 18.

Nurmagomedov, 18-0, earned his spot with a dominant decision win over Cory Sandhagen in August that skyrocketed him from the bottom of the top 15 to the No. 2 spot.

While it was undoubtedly the biggest win of Nurmagomedov’s career thus far, it wasn’t enough to convince Dvalishvili that he was worthy of a shot at the 135-pound crown.

“Umar is a good fighter. It’s a big challenge, but he don’t earn it like the rest of us,” Dvalishvili told ESPN. “We all know we work hard to get here, I don’t get anything easy, but somehow gets easy. He just complains all the time that nobody wants to fight him, but there are so many good fighters. There’s (Mario) Bautista, there are other fighters that are killers.

“But yeah, he fought only (Cory) Sandhagen (with) no wrestling, and he’s using that excuse that he beat the No. 2 guy, and now he’s here. It’s a big challenge, but the only thing I hate is that he don’t earn it how UFC fighters should earn it, and he’s just cocky. He should be humble at least, and he just disrespects me and lying, and that’s not what real men should do. That’s it.”

Merab Dvalishvili knows he’s in for a tough test against Umar Nurmagomedov

Dvalishvili may not approve of the path Nurmagomedov has taken, but he can’t deny that the Dagestani is a highly skilled opponent who presents a tough challenge.

“The fight will be really tough and this is a big, big challenge for me because it’s a new face and yeah, he’s a good fighter,” Dvalishvili said. “He’s good at kicking, striking, wrestling, and it’s a new challenge.”

It will be Dvalishvili’s first time defending the bantamweight title since taking it off ‘Sugar’ Sean O’Malley at UFC 306 in September.

No Fair! Merab Dvalishvili Questions Umar Nurmagomedov’s Quick Route to UFC Title Fight

Merab Dvalishvili really doesn’t want to fight Umar Nurmagomedov. From the moment the UFC bantamweight title was wrapped around…

Merab Dvalishvili really doesn’t want to fight Umar Nurmagomedov.

Regardless, Nurmagomedov will have an opportunity to claim his first world title when he challenges ‘The Machine’ at UFC 311 on January 18.

Nurmagomedov, 18-0, earned his spot with a dominant decision win over Cory Sandhagen in August that skyrocketed him from the bottom of the top 15 to the No. 2 spot.

While it was undoubtedly the biggest win of Nurmagomedov’s career thus far, it wasn’t enough to convince Dvalishvili that he was worthy of a shot at the 135-pound crown.

“Umar is a good fighter. It’s a big challenge, but he don’t earn it like the rest of us,” Dvalishvili told ESPN. “We all know we work hard to get here, I don’t get anything easy, but somehow gets easy. He just complains all the time that nobody wants to fight him, but there are so many good fighters. There’s (Mario) Bautista, there are other fighters that are killers.

“But yeah, he fought only (Cory) Sandhagen (with) no wrestling, and he’s using that excuse that he beat the No. 2 guy, and now he’s here. It’s a big challenge, but the only thing I hate is that he don’t earn it how UFC fighters should earn it, and he’s just cocky. He should be humble at least, and he just disrespects me and lying, and that’s not what real men should do. That’s it.”

Merab Dvalishvili knows he’s in for a tough test against Umar Nurmagomedov

Dvalishvili may not approve of the path Nurmagomedov has taken, but he can’t deny that the Dagestani is a highly skilled opponent who presents a tough challenge.

“The fight will be really tough and this is a big, big challenge for me because it’s a new face and yeah, he’s a good fighter,” Dvalishvili said. “He’s good at kicking, striking, wrestling, and it’s a new challenge.”

It will be Dvalishvili’s first time defending the bantamweight title since taking it off ‘Sugar’ Sean O’Malley at UFC 306 in September.

Ex-UFC Fighter Slams PFL’s Lackluster Matchmaking: ‘They Don’t Know What They’re Doing’

While they’re technically the second-biggest fight promotion in the United States, the PFL has a long way to go…

While they’re technically the second-biggest fight promotion in the United States, the PFL has a long way to go before earning respect from both fans and fighters.

In November 2023, the Professional Fighters League made a big splash in the world of MMA by buying Bellator, a fledgling organization that had introduced the world to Eddie Alvarez, Michael Chandler, the Pitbull brothers, Michael ‘Venom’ Page, and many more. Anyone signed to Bellator at the time of the merger was immediately folded into the PFL roster.

That includes current Bellator light heavyweight champion Corey ‘Overtime’ Anderson.

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A former Ultimate Fighter winner, Anderson captured his first world title in March after scoring a unanimous decision victory over Karl Moore at Bellator Champions Series 1 in Belfast to claim the 205-pound belt. Since then, ‘Overtime’ has been left in limbo waiting for the powers that be in the PFL to decide when or if he’ll fight for them again.

During a recent interview with MMA Fighting, Anderson didn’t hold back while talking about the PFL’s lackluster leadership and their lack of knowledge about the fight game.

“With Donn [Davis] and Pete [Murray], I don’t know what their plans are,” Anderson said. “At the same time, from the outside looking in it looks like guys that haven’t really spent much time in fighting, so they don’t really know what they’re doing at the moment. They’re trying to make business moves. They’re good at Wall Street-type stuff and stocks and making money. But that’s a different game to the fight game, so I don’t know their plans.”

Donn Davis is the co-founder of chairman of the Professional Fighters League while Pete Murray serves as the promotion’s CEO.

Corey Anderson isn’t the only fighter frustrated by the PFL’s decision-making

Corey Anderson isn’t the only PFL fighter frustrated over the lack of direction. In November, Patchy Mix didn’t hold back after the promotion canceled its Bellator Champions Series event in Paris scheduled for November 16. Mix was expected to square off with Leandro Higo at the event.

“I’ve been training my ass off for the last half of year for nothing,” Mix wrote on X. “This is frustrating in the prime of my career and I’ve had my fight in November cancelled? Then now again I’m being told I’m off January Dubai card? I am the best in the world and I want to fight to prove it.”

Patricio Pitbull was also left sitting on the sidelines after hoping to compete multiple times in 2024.

“I haven’t fought since February,” Pitbull posted. “I wanted to fight 3x this year, but I was told I’d have to wait until December 31st and found out online my opponent would fight someone else. Then they had a replacement, I bring people over, spend more money with the camp and there’s no fight.”

For a company that claims to put fighters first, the PFL certainly seems to be doing the exact opposite.

Dillon Danis Mocks Paige VanZant’s Facial Transformation with Brutal One-Word Reaction

Dillon Danis offered a one-word response to a recent photo of Paige VanZant making the rounds on social media….

Dillon Danis offered a one-word response to a recent photo of Paige VanZant making the rounds on social media.

Ahead of her professional boxing debut against Elle Brooke in May, VanZant threw some shade at Danis by suggesting that he’s not a real fighter. That sparked a fiery back-and-forth between the two with Danis levying accusations that ’12 Gauge’ had cheated on her husband Austin Vanderford with him on more than one occasion.

That prompted VanZant to hop on social media and absolutely eviscerate Danis.

“It has come to my attention that there is a certain clown on Instagram by the name of Dillon Danis trying to talk some shit and stir up some drama,” VanZant said on Instagram. “So let’s f*cking go, right? Dillon, obviously I said you’re not a real fighter. My bad, I triggered you. I understand that hurt your feelings. But instead of coming back and talking shit about me and saying I’m not a real fighter, what did you do? You kind of f*cked yourself, right? You backed yourself into a corner because now you have to come with proof of this alleged affair, right?

“Because the only time I remember ever seeing you in Vegas was at the UFC athlete retreat. You walked up to me in a bar and asked me to peg you in front of multiple other UFC fighters, and I laughed in your face. That’s not the definition of a relationship, is it?”

In the time since, Danis has continued to attack VanZant by spreading a series of rumors and directing insults at the OnlyFans model. Recently, the former Conor McGregor coach trolled VanZant by sharing a recent photo of her face compared to what she looked like during her UFC tenure.

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— Dillon Danis (@dillondanis) December 28, 2024

“bruh @paigevanzant,” Danis wrote.

Paige VanZant hasn’t won a fight in six years

Despite a serious lack of wins over the last six years, Paige VanZant has continued to be one of combat sport’s most prominent figures. Of course, much of that has little to do with her skills inside the ring or the cage.

After amassing a middling 5-4 record under the UFC banner, VanZant looked to parlay her online popularity into a lucrative contract with another organization. It didn’t take long for Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship to throw down a million-dollar deal to secure VanZant’s services.

Unfortunately, ’12 Gauge’ failed to live up to the hype, suffering back-to-back losses inside the squared circle against Britain Hart and Rachael Ostovich.

Since then, her appearances have been few and far between. She made her boxing debut in May against Elle Brooke under the Misfits Boxing banner, but once again failed to walk away with her hand raised. She’s also made a couple of appearances on Dana White’s latest pet project, Power Slap.

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Her last win away from the Power Slap podium came against Rachael Ostovich at UFC on ESPN+ 1 in January 2019.

Is UFC Headed to Netflix After Seeing WWE Strike $5 Billion Deal with the Streaming Giant?

Is the UFC headed to Netflix after its current deal with ESPN expires? On January 6, World Wrestling Entertainment…

Is the UFC headed to Netflix after its current deal with ESPN expires?

On January 6, World Wrestling Entertainment will make its long-awaited debut on the streaming giant, taking its flagship show off cable television for the first time since its inception more than 30 years ago. In early 2024, the sports entertainment organization revealed that they had signed a massive $5 billion deal to bring Monday Night RAW to Netflix for the next 10 years.

With the UFC’s deal with ESPN set to run out at the end of 2025, could we see Dana White and Co. follow suit and bring their product to the world’s biggest streaming service?

It’s certainly possible according to MMA Fighting’s Damon Martin. In a recent post on X, the respected combat sports journalist offered some insight from industry insiders who strongly believe that the UFC will join its business brother on Netflix in 2026.

“A lot of industry folks seem to believe Netflix is the leading candidate to land at least part of the UFC’s broadcast rights after 2025,” Martin wrote. “Next year is gonna be very big for the UFC.”

In 2024, Endeavor—the UFC’s parent company—purchased World Wrestling Entertainment for $9.3 billion before merging the two organizations under one corporate banner, TKO Group Holdings.

Netflix’s First Foray into Combat Sports Leaves Fight Fans Frustrated

While Netflix’s first dive into the world of live combat sports rendered big results for the company, it left a lot of fight fans frustrated.

In November, Netflix was the exclusive home to a boxing match between former heavyweight world champion ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson and YouTube star Jake Paul.

While Netflix knew the fight would generate big numbers, it’s safe to say that the viewers they drew exceeded all expectations as well as their bandwidth.

According to reports, more than 65 million people live-streamed the generational clash simultaneously. Unfortunately, thousands of households were left scrambling to watch the fight through alternative resources after the streaming site crashed during the co-main event rematch between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano.

“Whenever we do live events, we want it to go smoothly for every single one of our members,” Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria said during a press event on Wednesday. “That’s really important—also, to put it in perspective, it was 65 million concurrent streams, right? It was a very successful night. A lot of people [watched], the scale was very big, which is great. There’s a lot of interest in it.”

Of course, WWE’s chief content officer Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque will happily look past a few bugs in the system if it means getting 60 million fans to tune into RAW every week.

“I’ll just say, if it blinks a couple of times and we do 60 million, I’m good with that,” Levesque said with a laugh.

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Former NFL Star Throws Shade at Jamahal Hill Over UFC PI Confrontation with ‘Poatan’

After suffering a brutal first-round knockout against Alex Pereira at UFC 300, former 205-pound titleholder Jamahal Hill wanted to…

After suffering a brutal first-round knockout against Alex Pereira at UFC 300, former 205-pound titleholder Jamahal Hill wanted to run it back with ‘Poatan’ at the UFC Performance Institute.

Ahead of the UFC’s final pay-per-view event of 2024, video footage of Hill trying to start sh*t with Pereira at the PI quickly went viral. In the clip, which you can see below, Hill approached the reigning light heavyweight champion and started talking trash, prompting Pereira to throw a pair of gloves at him and challenge Hill to get inside the cage.

Of course, Hill declined to do so.

Looking back on the incident during a recent reunion with Daniel Cormier, former NFL safety Ryan Clark was quick to remind ‘Sweet Dreams’ what happened the last time he tried to throw hands with the Brazilian boogeyman.

“You know Jamahal Hill acting like he want to throw hands but he don’t really throw hands, cuz the last time he threw hands his hands wasn’t throwing like they were supposed to be, but Alex’s was,” Clark said.

Jamahal Hill faces Jiri Prochazka in his Return to the Octagon at UFC 311

While Jamahal Hill is a former light heavyweight titleholder, the Michigan native only holds one victory over a top-10 opponent. That being Johnny Walker who currently sits in the No. 10 spot in the division.

He’ll look to change that on January 18 when he returns to the Octagon for a clash with ex-champion Jiri Prochazka at UFC 311 in Los Angeles.

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It will be Hill’s first time competing since suffering the quick-fire KO against Pereira in April.