{"id":40188,"date":"2026-08-25T02:03:54","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T02:03:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Merab-Dvalishvili-explains-why-he-slapped-Umar-Nurmagomedovs-friend-202509"},"modified":"2026-08-25T02:03:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T02:03:54","slug":"merab-dvalishvili-explains-why-he-slapped-umar-nurmagomedovs-friend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/merab-dvalishvili-explains-why-he-slapped-umar-nurmagomedovs-friend\/","title":{"rendered":"Merab Dvalishvili explains why he slapped Umar Nurmagomedov\u2019s friend"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Merab
\nDvalishvili<\/a> recently opened up about his backstage altercation
\nat RAF Georgia.<\/p>\n

Dvalishvili defeated fellow former
\nUltimate Fighting Championship<\/a> champ Henry
\nCejudo<\/a> in a wrestling match at RAF Georgia in July. He later
\nshut down talks of a potential wrestling match against Umar
\nNurmagomedov<\/a> in strong words. Nurmagomedov\u2019s friend, Ahmed
\nGadzhimagomedov, then approached Dvalishvili and confronted him
\nabout his comments.<\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Dvalishvili responded by slapping Gadzhimagomedov, leading to an
\nall-out brawl.<\/p>\n

Dvalishvili says Ahmed Gadzhimagomedov grabbed him by the neck
\nbefore the RAF Georgia brawl<\/h2>\n

Dvalishvili says he was relaxing backstage when Gadzhimagomedov
\ngrabbed him by the neck and loudly confronted him in Russian. While
\n\u201cThe Machine\u201d barely understands Russian, he knew Gadzhimagomedov
\nwas talking about Nurmagomedov. Dvalishvili defends his action, saying Gadzhimagomedov had no
\nbusiness meddling in the feud between him and Nurmagomedov. The
\nformer UFC bantamweight titleholder also doubled down on his
\ndislike for Nurmagomedov and his manager Rizvan Magomedov for
\nallegedly insulting him on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was super relaxed, super chilled and then somebody came and
\ngrabbed my neck and pulled me over and started yelling at me in
\nRussian language, which I hardly understand,\u201d Dvalishvili told
\nAriel Helwani. \u201cAnd he mentioned Umar. It took me a couple of
\nseconds to realize, \u2018Who is this guy to tell me what to talk about
\nhim? It\u2019s between me and Umar\u2026 I have so much respect for all
\nDagestani people, especially fighters. The only guy who I don’t
\nlike from Dagestan is Umar and his sneaky manager, Rizvan. The guy
\nwho was helping Umar disrespect me on X and Threads.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dvalishvili was initially hesitant to face Nurmagomedov in his
\nfirst bantamweight title defense, questioning whether the latter
\ndeserved a title shot. They eventually locked horns at
\nUFC 311<\/a> in Los Angeles, where Dvalishvili handed the Dagestani
\nhis lone professional loss, but the bitterness between the two
\nstill persists.<\/p>\n

Dvalishvili went on to defend his belt two more times before losing
\nit in his rematch with Petr Yan<\/a> and
\ntheir trilogy bout is set for
\nUFC 333<\/a> on Oct. 24 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Nurmagomedov picked up two wins after losing to
\nDvalishvili and is set to take on Yadong Song<\/a>
\nnext at
\nUFC Shanghai<\/a>.<\/p>\n