When it seemed like the dust had finally settled between Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O’Malley after the former’s UFC Noche win, the Georgian professional mixed martial artist confirmed his intention that he is not done with ‘Suga.’ This time, he will not settle for anything other than a finish. During an appearance on Ariel Helwani’s show, the flamboyant bantamweight champion reiterated his desire to have an immediate rematch with O’Malley.

However, this went against the wishes of fans and other pundits. Every UFC fan truly wanted him to face the rightful next in line, Umar Nurmagomedov. However, the true issue became when ‘The Machine’ revealed he wanted to fight in March, the season of Ramadan. It will be when Nurmagomedov would surely want to be out of action.

This led many to wonder what would become of the bantamweight division with no proper title fight set yet. However, Dana White has finally come to the rescue. The UFC CEO has revealed the next opponent for the new bantamweight champion, one that even the undefeated Khabib Nurmagomedov approves of.

Many people had concerns about the bantamweight division’s immediate future during the UFC 308 press conference. Dana White was bombarded with questions from eager reporters on the growing feud between Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O’Malley. However, “Umar” was the only response from the UFC CEO. This decision was promptly appreciated by Umar’s cousin Khabib Nurmagomedov, who has been asking for the match for quite a while now. Sharing the clip on his Instagram story, ‘The Eagle’ wrote his signature line, “If you don’t know, now you know @danawhite.” 

When Dana White was pressed further for more clarification on the situation as a reporter tried to shed light on the ongoing feud between Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O’Malley, the UFC CEO put more emphasis on his desire to still have the Georgian bantamweight now go against the Dagestani, as he said, “Umar, that’s what I think.” So now it surely looks like White has his mind set on having a fight between the bantamweight champion and bantamweight’s #2. However, this surely would not sit well with Dvalishvili, who believes Umar Nurmagomedov is getting into the title picture due to his surname.

Merab Dvalishvili questions Umar Nurmagomedov being the number-one challenger

Almost reluctantly, Merab Dvalishvili might be ready to expose his bantamweight belt to Umar Nurmagomedov. Dvalishvili became the second Georgian to capture UFC gold by beating Sean O’Malley, and he surely wanted his first title defense to be a special one. However, with Khabib’s cousin waiting for him for a title feud in 2025, ‘The Machine’ doesn’t see him as a deserving contender.

During an appearance on Jake Shield’s Fight Back podcast, Dvalishvili said, “I keep saying he doesn’t deserve it because he has only fought one guy from the Top 15. It’s easy to market this guy [because of his last name]… Umar is a new challenge, and guys like this make me work harder.“ I think the most deserving guy is Figueiredo. But, I guess UFC wants me to fight Umar. All the people, I see their comments; everybody wants me to fight Umar. So, I will fight Umar.”

Nurmagomedov, undefeated in the UFC with a 6-0 record, jumped a good handful of places in the 135-pound ranking by defeating Cory Sandhagen by unanimous decision in the main event of the UFC held on August 3. The Dagestani is now in second place in the rankings. Dvalishvili, on the other hand, had to win ten fights in a row between 2018 and 2024 to earn the right to a title shot. So what do you think? Is Dvalishvili making the right claim? Let us know in the comments.