Merab Dvalishvili: ‘Cocky’ Umar Nurmagomedov didn’t earn title shot like ‘how a real UFC fighter should earn it’

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Merab Dvalishvili knows Umar Nurmagomedov is a legitimate threat to his bantamweight title but that still doesn’t mean he should be fighting for the belt at UFC 311.

As he prepares for his first title defense, Dvalishvili admitted that he had designs on potentially running it back with Petr Yan or Sean O’Malley before the UFC made it clear that the undefeated Russian would be his next opponent. Dvalishvili promises he never backed down from taking...