As Merab Dvalishvili stood in the Octagon after winning the bantamweight title, the camera panned to Umar Nurmagomedov. The fighter ranked number two in the division looked on and sent a clear message to the new champion. However, Dvalishvili was quick to shoot down the challenge saying the Dagestani fighter didn’t deserve the title shot yet.

But it is likely UFC could push in that direction given Umar is unbeaten and they will be eager to build the match now that the seeds are sown. Hence, Dvalishvili’s title defense might be against Khabib’s cousin sooner rather than later and Michael Bisping thinks it could be a tall task for the Georgian.

Following his win over Sean O’Malley, Dvalishvili is at the top of the bantamweight mountain, but as they say, it is easier to get there than to stay there. In the closing moments of UFC 306, we heard Umar Nurmagomedov make his intentions clear. Talking to the camera that zoomed in on him, he said, “I think I’m next, I hope they will not avoid and run.” 

However, ‘The Machine’ does not want to fight him. He stated that the young Dagestani fighter needs to compete against one or two more fighters to get a title shot. But Bisping believes being the champion means Dvalishvili has to take on the best fighters and that Umar could spell the end of his title reign.

Michael Bisping spoke on his podcast on September 17 and gave a fair warning to the new champ regarding this. “When we see the Bantamweight rankings, of course, Merab is the champ. Sean is number 1 and Umar Nurmagomedov is number two. We know he’s going to be next. They showed him on the screen. Umar Nurmagomedov has been set up to take on Merab Dvishvili.”

“By the way, if you are Merab be careful, what do you wish for you to be the champion of the world? That means you got to take on the next best guy. That is not easy. This could be one-and-done for Merab. It is a really tough matchup.”

Umar is a formidable challenger no doubt. The fighter is 6-0 in UFC and trains Hall of Famer Khabib Nurmagomedov trained by Khabib and as Bisping pointed out, “he’s got great wrestling, great striking and he’s got tons of support all over the world.” But the new bantamweight champion remains unconvinced.

Following his win Dvalishvili was asked by Joe Rogan to give his thoughts on his next likely opponent, Umar Nurmagomedov. The Georgian took a pause before saying, “Let’s leave it like this, I’ve just won the belt.” However, later at the post-UFC 306 press conference, he said Umar had a lot of work to do before he could consider fighting him.

He expressed, “From top 15, he (Umar Nurmagomedov) won only 1 fight, and that was Cory Sandhagen. We all see what Aljamain Sterling did against Cory Sandhagen, make him sleep in the first round.” Instead, he picked former flyweight champion Deiveson Figueredo as his preferred opponent. “I think Figueredo would be my fifth champion, he is more dangerous, knockout power, good Jiu-Jitsu makes people [go to] sleep,” he added.

While this statement about Umar not having fought many top-ranked fighters holds true, it doesn’t take away from the fact that he will be a strong challenger for Dvalishvili. In fact, Bisping isn’t the only one who thinks that.

On September 16, Kamaru Usman talked about the potential matchup with Henry Cejudo on Pound 4 Pound. While Usman insisted that accepting the Umar challenge could bring out the best in Dvalishvili, the way Colby Covington did for him, Cejudo warned him about the Dagestani.

Cejudo said, “Merab knows. Merab has a respect for Umar, and I personally just think he’s in trouble… If you don’t fight a guy like Umar, the UFC is going to make you fight a guy like Umar. Your career as a champ is pretty much done.” It is not as if Dvalishvili should be counted out entirely against the “Young Eagle.” With his win over O’Malley, he is now on a streak of 11 consecutive wins. He dominated the former champion with ease and hardly allowed him an opening, bringing an end to his 13-month title reign.

Moreover, with the noise for a match against Umar getting louder, Dvalishvili’s latest tweet suggests he is up for the challenge and threw a subtle shade at Umar. Taking to X on September 18, he wrote, “Guys- I hear all of you! I am a company man. Whoever the UFC puts in front of me , I will fight as I always do, even if I don’t think they deserve the next shot. Let’s Go.”

So it appears that Dvalishvili is ready. Earlier, the Georgian champion had rattled the Dagestani team by saying that the undefeated fighter was ‘not a true Russian.’  This comment did not fit well with Team Khabib and Islam Makhachev had to respond.

Merab Dvalishvili made Team Khabib angry

At the post-fight press conference, Dvalishvili said that Umar Nurmagomedov was not a true Russian because he was from Dagestan and was born there. Islam Makhachev was appalled at what the Georgian champ said.

These comments were not taken lightly and received backlash from the lig͏htweig͏ht͏ c͏h͏͏amp͏ion, Is͏l͏a͏m Ma͏kh͏achev͏͏. “Merab lives in America,” retorted Makhachev. He also said that Dagestan was in Russia and that ‘The Machine’ was using ‘mind games’ which would be replied to by Umar inside the octagon.

Umar’s brother Usman Nurmagomedov too had uploaded a post on X and sent a stern message to the Georgian champion, “You can run, but you can’t hide. Soon Umar will become undisputed, undefeated bantamweight champion, and will hold this belt for as long as he wants.”

So, it seems the seeds are planted for a title match between the new bantamweight champion and the undefeated Dagestani. While the odds might be stacked against Dvalishvili, you can count the tenacious Georgian at your own peril.