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Merab Dvalishvili reportedly marched into the UFC’s head office to demand a fight with Umar Nurmagomedov, leading to Wednesday’s announcement that the pair will clash in January.
Nurmagomedov’s impressive win over Cory Sandhagen in August made him the likely next challenger for the title, which Dvalishvili then took from Sean O’Malley with a dominant display in September.
In the time since, Nurmagomedov – a cousin of UFC great Khabib – has repeatedly accused Dvalishvili of avoiding a fight with him. In November, Dvalishvili even called for a title defence against former champion Petr Yan, whom he beat easily in 2023, after Yan defeated Deiveson Figueiredo.
But Dvalishvili, keen to disprove accusations that he is ‘ducking’ Nurmagomedov, demanded a fight with the unbeaten contender this week, according to Dana White.
While announcing the bout on Wednesday (4 December), the UFC president said: “Merab came into the office late last night, told us that he is tired of listening to Umar disrespect him.
“[He] wanted to make this fight happen as soon as possible. We called Umar. He was sleeping in Dagestan, and he said: ‘Hell yes. Anywhere, anytime.’”
Dvalishvili vs Nurmagomedov will serve as the co-main event of UFC 311 on 18 January, with Islam Makhachev vs Arman Tsarukyan 2 headlining the card in Los Angeles.
Georgia’s Dvalishvili is riding an 11-fight win streak, including four victories over former champions. Meanwhile, Russian Nurmagomedov is 18-0 as a professional.
