As UFC 306: Riyadh Season Noche approaches, anticipation for the headline title fight between Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili is at a peak. Both fighters look in excellent shape. Sean has been winning all his fights ever since he had the only loss of his career to Marlon Vera in 2020. In fact, Suga avenged that loss in his last fight against Vera on March 9 at UFC 299. On the other hand, Merab has won 10 straight to earn the title shot. The Georgian native faced Henry Cejudo at UFC 298 in his last fight and won it via a unanimous decision. One interesting fact is, Merab might have a personal reason for that extra push in the fight.

In UFC 292, Sean had defeated Merab’s close friend Aljamain Sterling to become champ. So the latter might be looking forward to avenging his teammate. With all that in mind, comes the obvious question: who is at advantage? Well, it is safe to say that the striker vs. grappler bantamweight matchup is going to be a neck-to-neck battle.

When the promotion first announced the matchup, the challenger was a -115 favorite over the champ, who opened at -105. But in a stunning turnaround, the bettors are now overwhelmingly in favor of Sean. While we carefully navigate all these, we have to spare a thought if former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov has dropped in his take. In an interview with UFC, ‘The Eagle’ has revealed who he will be supporting in the upcoming headline fight on September 14.

Khabib expressed his preference for the fight outcome by referencing the Papakha, saying, “I want Merab to win because it’s going to be very intresting fight. White Papakha vs. Black Papakha. But if O’Malley wins, it’s going to be White Papakha vs. Pink Papakha.” The papakha is a wool hat worn throughout the Caucasus region and beyond, traditionally worn by Dagestani fighters in white color after their victories in the UFC. So, how much importance do we need to give to this? Well, a lot, to tell the truth. And we don’t have to reminisce much for the reason.

You must not have forgotten Belal Muhammad’s welterweight title victory over Leon Edwards in the UFC 304 on July 28. Belal, the challenger, had defeated Edwards in a round 5 unanimous decision. It is not difficult to predict that Belal’s training with Khabib has been one of the prime factors in that. And Belal made no secret of it.

“Training with [Nurmagomedov] and getting advice from him is worth 20, 30, 40, 50 days with anybody else. Just being able to feel his strength, feel his pressure, feel his knowledge, too, that he gives you, and to have him give me advice and what he thinks I should be doing, what I should be doing for this fight and breaking down Leon and telling me what the game plan he thinks should be,” Muhammad told CBS Sports’ Shakiel Mahjouri before the fight about the Hall of Famer fighter, who ended his career with an undefeated record (29 wins).

Belal had also hailed Khabib’s knowledge about the fights on that occasion. So when Khabib sides with a fighter, one just can not overlook that. But, while picking his fighter for the UFC 306, Khabib looks to have some personal preferences in play. He wants the winner of the O’Malley vs. Dvalishvili fight to be defeated by his cousin, Umar Nurmagomedov, who is rumored to be next in line to challenge the bantamweight title holder. And for good reasons.

Umar shook up the division by defeating Cory Sandhagen by a unanimous decision on August 3 in a bantamweight title eliminator bout in UFC on ABC. Umar is projected to have the potential to grow into the most ideal well-rounder hexagonal fighter pursued by modern MMA. Like Khabib, he is a grappler based on Sambo and wrestling, but he has a good balance of striking, grappling, and stamina. But one of his greatest strengths is his striking style.

Umar uses his training in Muay Thai in a kickboxing-style striking from a southpaw stance. This uses deep kicks and kicks not only limited to the upper, middle, or lower body to keep the opponent in check. In fact, Corey Sandhagen himself had pointed this out.

“Coming from [Dagestan], everyone expects you to be a really good grappler. I know that he was a little bit more involved with Muay Thai and kickboxing than he was just grappling. He definitely has that part of his game. The most unique thing about him is his striking style. His grappling is pretty by the book, that Dagestani style. But the striking is really what kind of makes him different than those other guys. The type of techniques he uses, the types of kicks he uses,” Sandhagen had said before their fight. But does that make Umar a title contender? Merab has his take on this.

Merab Dvalishvili’s does not count Umar for the next title shot

Since debuting in MMA, Umar Nurmagomedov has dominated everyone who has faced him, regardless of the promotion. He is boasting an unbeaten record of 18-0-0, justifying his surname. This includes a 6-fight winning streak in the UFC, making him a major headache for his opponents. His impressive performance against Cory Sandhagen propped him from 11th to 2nd in the bantamweight ranking, positioning him as a strong contender for a title fight. However, these achievements have not swayed Merab.

In an interview with Mike Bohn of MMA Junkie, The Machine named Deiveson Figueiredo (24-3-1) as the top contender for the title instead of ‘Young Eagle’. He stated, “He beat one former champion in this weight class and one title challenger, and he beat Rob Font. And Figueiredo is former champion, and he has big name, and he deserves. Umar, he only beat Cory Sandhagen from top 15. Only one guy he beat from top 15 and why he deserve to fight for the belt?” 

For context, Figueiredo secured the victory over Rob Front via submission with a rear-naked choke and in his last fight on August 3 in UFC on ABC, defeated Marlon Vera by a unanimous submission. Interestingly, after Merab picked him as a title contender, Deus da Guerra sided with Khabib! On his Instagram, he wrote, “I’m 100% prepared, I know Merab will win the belt, so I’m waiting for you to make the world stop, I WILL FINISH YOU MERAB.”

With UFC 306 just 2 days away, like Khabib Nurmagomedov, fans will also have to wait to find out who’ll come out on top when the striker and the wrestler clash in the octagon for the bantamweight title belt. Who are you backing, Sean O’Malley or Merab Dvalishvili? Share your predictions below!