Merab Dvalishvili found himself in a tussle with a “fan” while walking out to corner teammate Aljamain Sterling at UFC 310 on Saturday — however the promotion’s bantamweight champ now contends it wasn’t a fan at all. And he’s put together a rather convincing video outlining the proof thereof.
Dvalishvili’s skirmish, caught on tape, also saw another teammate, Dennis Buzukja, throwing punches at the man who had grabbed Dvalishvili’s arm and begun insulting him. At the time, the fan appeared to be a Shavkat Rakhmonov supporter (Rakhmonov, a Kazkh, defeated Ian Machado Garry in the night’s co-main event). The skirmish was commented on by Dana White during Saturday’s UFC 310 post-fight press conference.
“You can’t keep fighting with the f*cking fans. It’s going to cost you a lot. You can do it, but it’s going to cost you a lot of money,” White told media outlets including Cageside Press at the T-Mobile Arena following the event. “I don’t know. Listen man, I say it all the time, we’re in the f*cking fight business. This happens. We’ve got to deal with it.”
On social media on Sunday, Merab presented both an alternate angle of footage capturing the incident, and brought receipts – with images scraped from social media showing the “fan” in question chumming it up with Umar Nurmagomedov and his team both before and after UFC 310.
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
“More lies, disrespect, and deliberate provocations from Umar’s team,” Dvalishvili wrote in a brief post accompanying the video. “Here’s the real story.”
Captions on the video explain that “The guy who provoked Merab is not just a fan. Turns out he is a teammate/friend of Dagestanis. Turns out he is not just a fan from Kazakhstan but a provoker.”
Screenshots of Umar Nurmagomedov’s Instagram show him sitting alongside the “fan” following UFC 310, while photos from years earlier indicate that they had a pre-existing relationship.
During Friday’s UFC 311 kickoff press conference, Dvalishvili and Nurmagomedov, who will challenge Merab for his bantamweight title at the event next month, had to be separated. Seated well apart during the press conference itself, Dvalishvili grilled his opponent on the “disrespect” he had been shown as Umar pursued the title fight.
Regardless as to whether the incident was a setup or coincidence, it’s likely to generate even more interest in Merab Dvalishvili and Umar Nurmagomedov’s grudge match at UFC 311.
