Newly-crowned bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili tried his damndest to keep away from a struggle with prime contender Umar Nurmagomedov, campaigning to rematch Sean O’Malley after which providing to battle this former flyweight titleholder earlier than begrudgingly accepting the UFC 311 co-main occasion on Jan. 18 in Los Angeles.
However that doesn’t imply “The Machine” might be engaged on struggle evening.
“I cannot (be) shocked, and no one will (be) shocked,” Nurmagomedov informed UFC (transcribed by Sherdog). “Even proper now I noticed commentary or on Twitter they stated he’ll pull out, however he by no means pulled out earlier than. I hope he is not going to, and the struggle goes to occur. I feel he simply needs to struggle with an actual man he can beat. It doesn’t imply I’m actually going to one hundred pc go contained in the cage and smash him, no. He is aware of different guys, he’ll beat. With me, it’s going to be laborious. That’s why he’s making an attempt to be a champion for a very long time, and he needs to struggle with O’Malley, with Petr Yan, or another person as a result of these guys, simple cash.”
The 28 year-old Nurmagomedov improved to 18-0 by defeating Cory Sandhagen atop the UFC Abu Dhabi struggle card final August. As for Dvalishvili, 33, he bumped his report to 18-4 — and captured the 135-pound crown — with a dominant efficiency over the aforementioned O’Malley at UFC 306 inside Sphere final fall.
“Me, no. For me, he has to go deep waters. With me it’s going to be an extended evening. I cannot give him takedowns, he is not going to management me,” Nurmagomedov continued. “I’ve good expertise, putting expertise, and I could make for him loads of issues. That’s why, however once we go contained in the cage, I cannot suppose he’s frightened of me. I’ll know that this can be a man who will attempt to beat me, I’ll attempt to smash him, and it’s going to be a battle. What I perceive is he doesn’t wish to take a dangerous struggle. He can beat me, it could occur. It’s not going to interrupt me. I might be similar Umar. Combat is struggle. All people can lose. If we’re speaking about scared, I simply suppose he doesn’t wish to take danger, laborious struggle.”
For the remainder of the UFC 311 struggle card and PPV lineup click on right here.
