Umar Nurmagomedov thinks Merab Dvalishvili is looking for some easy paydays.
Later this month, Nurmagomedov challenges Dvalishvili for the bantamweight title in the co-main event of UFC 311, and though the buildup to their fight has been short, it’s been quite heated. Initially, Dvalishvili no-sold Nurmagomedov as a title challenger, instead calling for rematches with past opponents he’s already beaten, Sean O’Malley and Petr Yan. Then, at the initial press conference for UFC 311, Dvalishvili was near apoplectic with rage, screaming at Nurmagomedov and repeatedly calling him “a piece of shit” despite Nurmagomedov remaining pretty even-tempered.
Considering all this, some fans believe that Dvalishvili was ducking Nurmagomedov and is afraid to face him, but the undefeated title challenger disagrees.
“I think he just wants to fight with a guy who [he] can beat,” Nurmagomedov said on the UFC’s YouTube channel. “It does not mean I 100 percent go inside the cage and smash him. No. He knows, other guys, he will beat [them]. Me? It’s going to be hard. That’s why he tried to be champion a long time. He wants to fight with O’Malley or with Petr Yan or someone else because he knows these guys, easy money. Me? Not.
“For me, he has to go deep waters. For me, it’s going to be a long night. I will not give him takedowns; he will not control me. I have good skills, striking skills, and I can make for him a lot of problems. That’s why. But when we go inside the cage, I will not think he’s scared of me. I will know this is a man who will try to beat me. I am a man who will try to smash him, and it’s going to be a battle.
“What I know, what I understand, he does not [want a] risky fight. He can beat me; it can happen. It’s not going to break me. I will be the same Umar. Fighting is fighting. Everybody can lose, everybody can win. We’re not talking about what’s going to happen in the fight. If we’re talking about scared, I think he just wants to take [less] risk.”
There certainly is risk for Dvalishvili. Oddsmakers currently have Nurmagomedov installed as a nearly 3 to 1 favorite over the current champion. That’s a tough test for Dvalishvili, and while he did caveat that anything can happen in a fight, Nurmagomedov believes it’s actually even worse for the bantamweight champion.
“He will not [beat me],” Nurmagomedov said. “I can’t imagine how he will beat me. He can’t hold me. OK, maybe he will take me down one time, but he has to hold me there. He can’t. He has to punch. It’s not going to be how he did always. I’m not the person who will go crazy.
“But I can wrestle, too. Don’t forget about it. But I can finish. If he gives me his back, I’m going to choke you. Be careful.”
UFC 311 takes place on Jan. 18 at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif., and will be headlined by a lightweight title fight between Islam Makhachev and Arman Tsarukyan.
