“Merab only throws hands with fans in the stands,” Sean O’Malley made this remark about Merab Dvalishvili’s recurrent issues with the fans in major events. Not too long ago, during the Craig Jones Invitational, the Georgian fighter jumped the fence to confront a fan who happened to diss him. And at UFC 310, after Aljamain Sterling battled Movsar Evloev inside the Octagon, Dvalishvili fought a fan in the audience. But would this act put his upcoming fight against Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311 at risk? 

In the UFC 310 post-fight press conference, Dana White provided ‘The Machine’ with an ultimatum. He dubbed him his “mini-[Sean] Strickland without the mouth.” But the repeated altercations with the fans weren’t something that the UFC head honcho liked about Dvalishvili. He said, “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. You can do it. It’s going to cost you a lot of money. I don’t know.” 

Of course, this wasn’t the first time professional MMA fighters had an altercation with the fight fans. Back at UFC 300, Arman Tsarukyan punched a fan who happened to flip him off. As a penalty, ‘Ahalkalakets’ was suspended for 9 months and fined a sum of $25 thousand by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. But with the internet booming with visuals of Dvalishvili attacking the fan, the commission might take similar actions against the bantamweight champion.

That was what the popular MMA analyst, Damon Martin, suspected. Taking to X, he wrote, “Merab was a licensed cornerman last night at #UFC310 …. I’m legitimately curious if the Nevada Athletic Commission takes a look at this, especially after they were notably angered by the situation with Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 300.” 

If the bantamweight champion receives a suspension, it would indeed put his fight on the 18th of January, 2025 in jeopardy. Many netizens even claimed that evading Nurmagomedov was the only reason why Dvalishvili attacked the fan. However, according to the champ, it’s far from the truth. He seemed to believe that it was all a plan executed by Nurmagomedov’s team.

Merab Dvalishvili reveals the truth about his altercation at UFC 310

‘The Machine’ took to social media and shared a video, which was captioned, “More lies, disrespect, and deliberate provocations from Umar’s team. Here’s the real story …” The video claimed that the man who provoked Merab Dvalishvili was in fact, one of Umar Nurmagomedov’s teammates. A picture of the said provoker and Nurmagomedov also appeared in the video. So what exactly happened at UFC 310?

It turned out that Dvalishvili was simply filming the ‘Funkmaster’ as he interacted with the crowd. But there was a man who obstructed the bantamweight champion. Holding a phone in his hand, the fan grabbed the champ’s hand and began insulting him. As a result, the Georgian unleashed a punch and security had to intervene. The voiceover on the video continued, “Later that day, Umar posts story with the guy and his squad. And there is even more pictures from years ago with him and Dagestanis… This was just Dagestanis dirty trick and provocation.” 

We still don’t really know whether it’s a well-executed plan or a mere coincidence. But one thing is for certain. Dvalishvili has to restrain himself if he doesn’t want any bad consequences for his actions. For now, the Nevada State Athletic Commission has yet to reveal a verdict about the situation. 

Do you think the NSAC would suspend ‘The Machine’ for his altercation at UFC 310? Drop down to the comments below and let us know what you think.