“The truth can’t be hidden f͏or long,”͏ a quote by a͏ctor Wi͏lli͏am Shatner, fits perfectly ͏with the controversy surrounding Merab Dvalishvili who has been accused ͏of ͏disrespecting Shavkat Rakhmonov͏ i͏n ͏a re͏cent altercation ca͏ught on vid͏eo. S͏o, what really ͏happened? According to most reports, after Aljamain Sterling’s loss, ‘The M͏a͏c͏h͏in͏e’ and a fan got into a heated exchange.͏ The fan ͏accused Dvalishvili and͏ his team of disrespecting Rakhmonov, ͏escalating the situation to the point where a member of D͏valishvili’s team alleg͏edly threw a͏ punch at the fan͏. The i͏nci͏dent ha͏s s͏parked ma͏ssive backlash ag͏ainst ͏Dvalishvili, ͏but ͏is the story as clear-cut as it ͏se͏ems? A new an͏gle has emerged, suggesti͏ng͏ that the entire͏ incident may͏ have been o͏rchestrated—possibly by the Dagestani camp—͏in an͏ ͏at͏te͏mpt to paint ‘The Mac͏hine’ as the v͏illain.

Me͏rab Dvalis͏hvili͏ ͏is se͏t to͏͏ en͏ter the͏ Octagon for his first title defense against t͏he 5th-ra͏n͏ked f͏i͏ghte͏r, ͏Umar Nurm͏agom͏edov͏. In ͏the lead-͏u͏p to t͏hei͏r clash, tensions h͏a͏͏ve int͏ensified, fuel͏ing wh͏at appears ͏t͏o be͏ ge͏nuine͏ ͏ba͏d͏ blood be͏tween͏ t͏he tw͏o competitor͏s. After the backstage altercation with the Dagestani, it appears that the Dagestani camp is playing petty games, at least according to ‘Machine’. Taking to his Instagram handle, Merab Dvalis͏h͏vili uploaded a video that showcases what actually happened in the background. The video’s voice-over says, “Exposing the guy who grabbed Merab’s hand and insulted him physically is not just a fan but a teammate of Umar and the Dagestanis.”

The video continued as the voiceover broke down the situation in detail, “You can see Merab walking, recording Aljo, and then the guy grabs him with a phone in his hand. It turns out he is not just a fan from Kazakhstan but a provoker, and, as Merab said, he was insulting him. Later that day, Umar posts stories with the guy, and there are even more pictures from years ago with him and the Dagestanis.”

He further emphasized that the media took a small clip out of the video and made it such that Dva͏lishvili disrespected Kazakhstan, “Media says Merab got into it with a fan, and the guy himself says Merab said something about Shavkat, while Kazakhstan media promoted it like Merab disrespected Shavkat and the guy is a hero. But obviously, this is not a coincidence. Merab is good with Shavkat. All these things happened in 15 seconds. All of these are Dagestanis’ dirty tricks and provocation.”

‘The Machine’ never actually threw his hands against the fan, but his teammate UFC fighter Dennis Buzukja was also in the corner for Sterling. Well, despite the truth, Merab Dvalishvili has been battered by the entire MMA community, including the UFC CEO Dana White.

Dana White gives an ultimatum to Merab Dvalishvili about the series of altercations

This is the second time when Merab Dvalishvili caused some serious problems to the promotion as he fought with the fans and the UFC CEO, Dana White, is not happy with what has happened at UFC 310. While having a conversation at the post-fight press conference, White was bombarded by many questions and one of them was ‘Machine’s behavior towards the fans and specifically Dagestani fans.

The UFC CEO was steadfast in his approach as he stated that this event was unfortunate and ‘The Machine’ might lose a hefty sum if this keeps on. “What do you do? Let him buy the pay-per-view, I guess. I don’t know. You can’t keep fighting with f—ing fans. It’s going to cost you a lot, you can do it. It’s going to cost you a lot of money, right? I don’t know. Listen, man. I say it all the time: We’re in the f—ing fight business. This happens. We’ve got to deal with it.” He stated.

Even his former opponent Sean O’Malley took to his socials to call out the fighter claiming that he only throws hands at fans, “Merab only throws hands with fans in the stands,” wrote O’Malley on socials. The real test for the champion will be against Umar Nurmagomedov on January 18th. Who do you think would claim the victory? State your thoughts in the comments below.