Khabib
Nurmagomedov is confident in cousin Umar
Nurmagomedov leading up to the latter’s upcoming title fight
against Merab
Dvalishvili.
Advertisement
Umar challenges Dvalishvili for the bantamweight title in the
co-main event at UFC 311
on Jan. 18 at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, California.
Dvalishvili was initially loathe to fight Umar, deeming him
undeserving of a title shot.
While Umar didn’t seem to say anything inflammatory about the
bantamweight champion, Dvalishvili claims he felt disrespected by
the Dagestani. While announcing the UFC 311 matchup, Dana White
revealed that Dvalishvili agreed to the matchup because he was done
feeling disrespected by his opponent. While “The Machine” continues
to voice his respect for Umar’s teammates leading up to UFC 311, he
hasn’t stopped taking shots at his upcoming foe.
Khabib believes Dvalishvili was initially pretending to be nice guy
but couldn’t handle his championship status very well. Dvalishvili
has repeatedly accused Umar of being gifted a gold bid due to his
relation to Khabib. However, “The Eagle” cites Umar’s impeccable
record to justify his cousin’s legitimate claim to a title shot.
Khabib is confident that on fight night Umar will show the world
why Dvalishvili was acting “nervous” leading up to the bout.
“I think when he [Merab] beginning his career, he was acting good.
When he became champion, he cannot deal with this. Because life
changing,” Khabib said at a recent press conference (via Red Corner
MMA). “Before champion and after champion there is two life. You
have to deal with this. About Umar [getting] gift – I think Umar
deserve. I don’t know why Merab nervous… Umar here not because he
is my cousin. He’s here because he’s 18-0 and 6-0 in the UFC. Umar
wanna create his legacy. January 18, he will show why Merab
nervous.”
Dvalishvili won the title with a dominant unanimous decision win
over Sean O’Malley at UFC 306 this past September, which extended
his winning streak to 11. Meanwhile, Nurmagomedov’s undefeated
record includes six UFC victories topped off by a high-caliber
triumph over Cory
Sandhagen at UFC Saudi Arabia this past August.