Khabib Believes UFC Forced Merab Dvalishvili to Fight Umar Nurmagomedov

😬Khabib thinks the UFC made Merab Dvalishvili accept the fight with Umar Nurmagomedov:

“I believe the UFC… pressured [Merab] and made him fight [Umar]… The UFC needed a co-main event fight, that’s my personal opinion.”

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Khabib Nurmagomedov thinks Merab Dvalishvili (18-4) doesn’t want to fight Umar Nurmagomedov (18-0).

Umar challenges Dvalishvili for the bantamweight title in the co-main event at UFC 311 on Saturday at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. While Umar has long been the most eligible candidate for a title shot, the matchup didn’t come to fruition without some drama.

After winning the strap against Sean O’Malley at UFC 306 last year, Dvalishvili initially made it clear that he didn’t want his first title defense to be against Umar. “The Machine” claimed Umar was still undeserving of a title shot and was being pushed by the UFC due to his relation to Khabib, who is is his cousin. When the matchup was eventually made official, Dana White said Dvalishvili accepted the booking as he couldn’t tolerate the “disrespect” from Umar anymore. Dvalishvili has since consistently beefed with Umar, accusing the Dagestani of disrespecting him.

Khabib believes the champ was forced into the fight by UFC officials.

“The difficulty was only because Merab didn't want to fight,” Khabib recently told Gorilla Fighting. “I believe that the UFC made Merab fight and they pressured him and made him fight [Umar]. The UFC needed a co-main event fight. That's my personal opinion. Umar, after [Cory] Sandhagen was targeting the belt.”

Dvalishvili had a long road to the UFC title, which was partly due to his unwillingness to fight his teammate Aljamain Sterling. Meanwhile, Umar’s perfect record includes six UFC wins — topped off by signature triumph against Sandhagen.