UFC bantamweight Merab Dvalishvili posted a video of himself and a friend appearing bloodied on social media, accusing free-agent fighter Usman Nurmagomedov of an ambush.
“Usman Nurmagomedov and his friends came like snakes from behind! What kind of fighters you guys are?! What kind of man does this?! If you want to fight, let’s do like real way, bro! You guys came just because there’s two of us, and you guys were prepared, bro! … That shows your guys’ character, shows you’re not real men!,” Dvalishvili said.
Dvalishvili, an American who was born in the country of Georgia, is scheduled to fight as a catchweight in the Real American Freestyle wrestling event in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Saturday.
Fellow UFC mixed martial artist Umar Nurmagomedov, the older brother of the accused, is also scheduled to fight as a lightweight.
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Dvalishvili and the elder Nurmagomedov have a history of tensions.
Dvalishvili defeated him in a defense of his UFC bantamweight title in January 2025. It’s the only fight between the two to date and was the Russian’s first loss in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
While Dvalishvili said in October that he was “good with Umar now” as shown on a UFC vlog, the elder Nurmagomedov told news site MMA Junkie that “it’s personal not just for me. It’s personal for all of Dagestan” after Dvalishvili slapped his friend Ahmed Gadzhimagomedov at a Real American Freestyle event in the country of Georgia this past summer.
Dagestan is a republic of Russia and borders Georgia to the northeast.
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