Merab got into ANOTHER altercation with a
fan after Aljamain Sterling lost to Mosvar Evloev. 👀
#UFC310 pic.twitter.com/MBeKMmvQkZ— InsideFighting (@InsideFighting_)
December 8, 2024
Merab
Dvalishvili believes his altercation with a fan was
orchestrated by future opponent Umar
Nurmagomedov and his team.
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Dvalishvili was in attendance at UFC 310
on Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. “The Machine”
cornered his friend and teammate Aljamain
Sterling, who dropped a decision against Movsar
Evloev on the preliminary card.
Dvalishvili got into an altercation with a fan as he was walking
backstage with Sterling after the fight. Footage shows the fan
initially grabbing Dvalishvili by the arm while recording him.
Dvalishvili’s teammate, Dennis
Buzukja, was later seen throwing punches at the fan while
security restrained Dvalishvili. This isn’t the first time that
Dvalishvili has been involved in this type of incident, as he
confronted a spectator at the Craig Jones Invitational in Las Vegas
this past August.
“He’s my mini-[Sean] Strickland — without the mouth,” UFC CEO Dana
White said in regards to Dvalishvili at the UFC 310 post-fight
press conference. “What do you do? Let him buy the pay-per-view, I
guess. I don’t know. You can’t keep fighting with f—ing fans. You
can do it. It’s going to cost you a lot of money. I don’t know.
“I say it all the time. We’re in the f—king fight business. This
happens. We’ve got to deal with it.”
However, Dvalishvili claims his latest fan altercation was set up
by his upcoming opponent. The bantamweight champ shared a social
media post offering video evidence that the fan involved is a
friend of Nurmagomedov and his team. In the video, Usman
Nurmagomedov, Islam
Makhachev and Khabib
Nurmagomedov are seen posing for pictures with the fan who
heckled Dvalishvili on Saturday night. Dvalishvili is scheduled to
put his title on the line against Usman Nurmagomedov at UFC 311
on Jan. 18 at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, California.
“More lies, disrespect, and deliberate provocations from Umar’s
team,” Dvalishvili wrote on X. “Here’s the real story …”
More lies, disrespect, and deliberate
provocations from Umar’s team. Here’s the real story … pic.twitter.com/btwTzJrC0D— Merab “The Machine” Dvalishvili (@MerabDvalishvil)
December 8, 2024
Dvalishvili won the bantamweight title with a dominant unanimous
decision win over Sean O’Malley at UFC 306 this past September. He
has consistently downplayed Nurmagomedov’s claim to a title shot,
accusing the Dagestani of enjoying privileges due to his relation
to “The Eagle.” Meanwhile, Nurmagomedov is undefeated in 18 career
outings — including six in the UFC — the biggest of which came
against fellow top contender Cory
Sandhagen this past August.