Merab Dvalishvili is set to enter the UFC octagon later this weekend against Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311 which will mark his first title defense after winning it against Sean O'Malley at UFC 306 last year. The event will be the company's first pay-per-view of the year and features a stacked card, including the UFC Bantamweight Championship.
While the main event is set to be for the Lightweight Championship, the co-main event will feature a Bantamweight Championship matchup between Dvalishvili and Nurmagomedov. The UFC Bantamweight Champion currently boasts a professional record of 18-4, while Nurmagomedov is undefeated in his career so far with a perfect record of 18-0.
Ahead of the fight, the challenger, Umar Nurmagomedov, has been quite vocal about fighting through injury, which also led to a bout cancelation against Song Yadong last year. However, it looks like the champion does not believe the story.
During a recent interview with MMA Fighting, Merab Dvalishvili took aim at Nurmagomedov and accused him of faking his injury.
“He's bulls**tting. He's a bulls**t guy. I'm not buying his bulls**t. His injury,” Dvalishvili said. “Like, he has little injury in his arm. I had an injury, big injury, but I don't mention this. I'm not bringing it up this one. Everybody has an injury. Every professional fighter has an injury.”
Furthermore, Dvalishvili suggested that he saw a video of Nurmagomedov training and believes he used the injury as an excuse.
“He's bulls**ting. He says he was training and I saw he was punching bags very good when he arrived in Vegas,” Dvalishvili said. “You can go and see in the video he posted. He was punching a bag and if you have any problem with your hand, you won't be able to punch the bag. He was punching bags very normal and I think he's just mentioning this to make some excuse.”
Take a look at his comments below:
Apart from raising questions about his opponent's character, Merab Dvalishvili has also been vocal about not being fond of Umar Nurmagomedov. As UFC 311 approaches, Dvalishvili is eager to potentially win the bout and put an end to his rivalry against Nurmagomedov.