Merab Dvalishvili guarantees there gained’t be any humorous enterprise when he places his bantamweight belt on the road for the primary time.
The Machine’ returns to the Octagon at UFC 311 this Saturday evening when the promotion heads again to the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. There, Dvalishvili will sq. off with undefeated Dagestani sensation Umar Nurmagomedov.
Nurmagomedov earned his first title alternative with a unanimous determination victory over Cory Sandhagen, however ever since profitable the 135-pound crown, Dvalishvili has insisted that Nurmagomedov hasn’t achieved practically sufficient to justify his spot on this weekend’s co-main occasion.
Talking with Bloody Elbow, Dvalishvili echoed that very same sentiment.
“Nurmagomedov is definitely cocky. That’s his downside,” Dvalishvili mentioned. “He thinks that he bought this one simple, however he by no means confronted me. And imagine me he’ll know on the evening. He’ll understand that he’s going to struggle me and he will probably be humble. I’ve by no means mentioned that he’s not a superb fighter. I say he’s a superb fighter, however he takes shortcuts, you understand. He cheated slightly bit as a result of he was combating nobodies and guys on their debut. After which from debut man, he fought quantity two, you understand, that’s, that’s a present and that’s a shortcut. And that’s not the way you need to earn your title struggle.
“That’s not proper. For my part, he was presupposed to struggle yet another. Perhaps towards Track Yadong. However as soon as the UFC requested me, I mentioned, okay, I’ll struggle him. However I needed to struggle in February or March. However that’s what I mentioned. Why don’t I like him? As a result of he known as me a pretend champion. Additionally, he was disrespectful in the direction of my nation.”
Merab Dvalishvili guarantees no shenanigans, simply punches in UFC 311 title struggle
Dvalishvili claimed the bantamweight title in September with a lights-out efficiency towards ex-champion ‘Sugar’ Sean O’Malley at UFC 306 in Las Vegas.
Whereas the Georgian’s efficiency was pretty dominant, there have been a handful of head-scratching moments, all of them perpetrated by ‘The Machine.’ Maybe the strangest one got here within the waning seconds of the second spherical when Dvalishvili planted a couple of kisses on the again of O’Malley whereas fishing for a guillotine choke.
This time round, Dvalishvili guarantees there gained’t be any mid-fight smooches … Simply punches.
“No kiss, simply punch!” Dvalishvili mentioned.
