Merab Dvalishvili and Umar Nurmagomedov have been locked in an intense back-and-forth since the day ‘Machine’ defeated Sean O’Malley to clinch the bantamweight title at UFC 306. It all started with Nurmagomedov calling for a title shot against Dvalishvili, who ignited the feud by c͏laimi͏ng that the entire Team ͏Khabib is not Russian but Dagesta͏ni. This ͏prompted ͏a series of ve͏rbal ja͏bs from͏ Umar N͏urmagom͏edov,͏ who ur͏ged ‘Machine’ to stop avoiding him and face him direc͏tly. The UFC CEO appears to be giving fans what they want as this is one of the most exciting matchups in bantamweight history. And now, it seems like we have a proper storyline going into the January fight, as things almost got ugly between both bantamweights backstage at the UFC 311 pre-fight press conference.

Yes, you heard that fight, the constant disrespect thrown by both of the fighters has reached its boiling point as Dvalishvili made it a point to confront his Dagestani counterpart backstage midway through the champion’s interview with ‘Kayo Sports’. “Why do you disrespect me?, asked the Georgian fighter to ‘Young Eagle’.

This comment by the bantamweight champion was immediately disregarded by ‘Young Eagle’, who asked, “What did I say?”  Moments later, all of the security within the perimeter stepped in to stop the escalating situation between both fighters. Dvalishvili reiterated his initial question to which Umar Nurmagomedov replied, “Because I want [to].” As the security was trying to manage the situation, ‘Machine’ turned it up a notch and said, “Come here, I’m gonna slap your a–“. Both of the fighters had to be escorted away from each other but when Nurmagomedov was leaving, he used his cousin’s famous one-liner, “Call me anytime.”

Merab Dvalishvili later emphasized the reason why the confrontation was necessary for him, “Of course, it’s personal. Because every time I see him [Nurmagomedov], I give him my respect. I shake his hand, ” said Dvalishvili, “I even [told] him that I’m going to fight him one day. And now he starts [talking] trash online. And real men don’t do this, you know. So okay, it’s a personal [fight] for me, yeah.” As the temperature rises ahead of the UFC 311 in January, the MMA community had its own personal take on the confrontation.

Fans divided in Merab Dvalishvili and Umar Nurmagomedov’s intense confrontation

As we witnessed from the video, it was Merab Dvalishvili who instigated the confrontation with him being the one advancing towards the Dagestani. However, a fan saw this as an alpha move by the champion while criticizing the title contender, “Merab stood on business Umar ran backwards.” It must be noted that it was ‘Machine’ who walked into the UFC office to demand a fight between him and Nurmagomedov, “Merab came into the office late last night, told us that he is tired of listening to Umar disrespect him. [He] wanted to make this fight happen as soon as possible. We called Umar. He was sleeping in Dagestan, and he said: ‘Hell yes. Anywhere, anytime’.”, said the UFC CEO Dana White.

January 18th͏ i͏͏s just ov͏er a mo͏nth a͏͏way, and we h͏ave s͏een f͏ighte͏rs oft͏en injur͏e them͏s͏e͏lve͏s in the final d͏a͏ys of ͏i͏ntense ͏training. Considering t͏h͏is,͏ a soci͏͏al me͏dia user re͏m͏ark͏ed, “Merab better not [be] cursed. It’s gonna be crazy fight.”A fan was intrigued by the intense back and forth between both fighters at the pre-fight press conference, and made a sarcastic remark, taking shots at the actual fight itself, “Merab vs Umar press conference is going to be more exciting than the fight itself.”

Furthermore, a fan had genuine advice for the bantamweight champion, “Merab don’t U curse boy or it’s going to be bad really bad for you and the way he’s talking it’s like he can do anything to Umar.” Amidst the chaos, we find ourselves a Sean O’Malley fan,  “come come come here with all security Merab is a dud so is Umar, Sean is king.” Last but not least, a fan added that he would be rooting for Dvalishvili for the very first time, “First fight I’m gonna root for Merab.”

This development serves as quite the build-up for the UFC bantamweight title clash, and all the words exchanged between the two only adds to the anticipation of fight fans. Regardless, who do you think will be champion by the end of January 8th? Will it be the Georgian Merab Dvalishvili or his Papakha-wearing counterpart Umar Nurmagomedov? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.