Merab Dvalishvili once again captured all the attention for pouncing on a fan during an event. But this time, the bantamweight champion blamed his next opponent, Umar Nurmagomedov, and his team. According to ‘The Machine’, the man who provoked him belonged to the Dagestani team, and it was all a setup. However, the head coach of the American Kickboxing Academy and close friend of the Dagestani team, Javier Mendez, claimed otherwise. 

On the 10th of December, Mendez sat down with his co-host Len on the Javier Mendez Podcast. With Dvalishvili throwing accusations at his team, the coach couldn’t avert his attention from the matter. While the bantamweight king claimed that the provoker was a member of Team Khabib, Mendez refused that to be the case. He said, “That’s where Merab is spinning the thing like this was planted by guys. I’ve never seen that guy ever with those guys. So, I don’t know. He’s never been in training camp. I don’t know who he is. He definitely might be a friend of theirs, I don’t know.” 

Mendez has been associated with Khabib Nurmagomedov since 2012. Although he could not rule out the fact that he might be a friend to Islam Makhachev or the Nurmagomedov brothers, the coach stood adamant in his belief that it was not an intentional act by the Dagestani team.

The coach continued, “My guys are too honorable to do that. If they did something like that, it’s very disrespectful. Khabib would be p—ed off. I would be p—ed off, if they did something like that. No way. That was not intentional. That was someone else doing something, whoever that person is. Maybe he is a friend, I don’t know. But whatever he did, he did on his own. It was no green light from Team Khabib. We don’t need to do that. You know, we’re professionals, we come out there, and we fight the fight.”

There was another time when Dvalishvili jumped on a fan. It was during the Craig Jones Invitational when the Georgian champion threw fists at a fan who dissed him. And as the debate about the UFC 310 altercation kept rising, Dana White came forth with a stern warning for the bantamweight champion. Let’s see what the UFC head honcho had to say about Merab Dvalishvili’s altercation. 

Dana White gives a warning to Merab Dvalishvili following his UFC 310 altercation 

During the post-fight press conference for UFC 310, a reporter asked about the UFC CEO’s thoughts on Dvalishvili’s dispute with the fan. While White couldn’t prevent such things from happening, he could certainly punish the fighters for repeated troubles. 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. 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.”

Arman Tsarukyan was in a similar situation when he attacked a fan who flipped him off at UFC 300. The Armenian mixed martial artist accrued a fine of $25,000 and was suspended for 6 months. No doubt, this significantly delayed his much-anticipated bout against Islam Makhachev. The famed MMA analyst, Damon Martin, wondered out loud if the same thing would happen to Dvalishvili. 

‘The Machine’ is all set to fight Umar Nurmagomedov at the co-main event for UFC 311. But if the Nevada State Athletic Committee decided to suspend the bantamweight champion, this fight would probably fall in jeopardy. Nevertheless, with new revelations coming up with each passing day, we can surely expect the dispute to resolve itself. 

What do you think of Dvalishvili’s altercation? Do you believe Team Khabib is guilty of setting up the altercation? Drop down to the comments below and let us know what you think.