Merab
Dvalishvili wants Islam
Makhachev to live up to his own standards.

Dvalishvili was initially loathe to make his first bantamweight
title defense against Makhachev’s cousin, Umar
Nurmagomedov. Makhachev then expressed his respect for
Dvalishvili while asking him to not shy away from fighting a
deserving contender. Dvalishvili eventually accepted the booking
and successfully defended his title against a previously undefeated
Nurmagomedov at UFC 311
earlier this year.

Now Dvalishvili’s countryman Ilia
Topuria has vacated his featherweight title in quest for a
lightweight title shot against Makhachev. However, Makhachev is
unwilling to fight “La Leyenda” until the Georgian-Spaniard has
proved himself at 155 pounds. However, Dvalishvili already
considers his undefeated friend the most deserving title contender
at lightweight. And “The Machine” is urging Makhachev to fight
Topuria just like the lightweight champ had asked him to fight
Nurmagomedov.

“Ilia has to fight Islam Makhachev. Especially [since] he vacated
his belt,” Dvalishvili told Ariel Helwani. “And he’s not a 145’er
anymore. And he’s the best deserving contender for the 155 belt.
But somehow Islam [is] ignoring him. I’m sure everybody remembers
that Islam told me [at the] press conference, ‘Merab I respect you.
But when you have a top contender, you should fight him.’ And I
said, ‘OK, I’m fighting.’ But now he has a top contender as Ilia
Topuria, but he’s not fighting.”

Makhachev has defended his title four times, most recently against
Renato
Carneiro at UFC 311. Meanwhile, Topuria won the title against
Alexander
Volkanovski and defended it against Max
Holloway before vacating it.

Dvalishvili is now set to defend his throne in a rematch against
Sean O’Malley at UFC 316
on June 7 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

IMAK ADMIN

By IMAK ADMIN

Internationaler Kampfkunst und Kampfsport Kleinanzeiger