Dana White calls Nurmagomedov and Dvalishvili 'idiots' after hotel brawl ends in arrests

UFC CEO Dana White publicly lambasted Usman Nurmagomedov and Merab Dvalishvili on Thursday after the two fighters and their entourages were arrested by Abu Dhabi police following a violent altercation in a hotel lobby two days before RAF Abu Dhabi.

Video footage showed Dvalishvili conducting an interview when Nurmagomedov approached and slapped him, triggering a mass brawl that security scrambled to contain. Abu Dhabi police confirmed multiple arrests, including those of people filming the incident, though no update on release timelines was provided.

Speaking at the UFC 334 pre-fight press conference, White did not hold back. “What a bunch of fcking idiots,” he said. “It’s absolutely ridiculous and stupid and they’re all in jail. That is not a place to go fck around.”

The fallout has thrown the weekend’s card into uncertainty. Dvalishvili was scheduled to face Marlon Moraes on Saturday, while Umar Nurmagomedov — Usman’s brother, who was also involved in the altercation — is expected to meet Urijah Faber. RAF officials confirmed that Usman Nurmagomedov has been banned from the event, but the statuses of Umar and Dvalishvili remained unresolved at the time of the press conference.

The bad blood between Dvalishvili and the Nurmagomedov family has been well documented, though the sudden escalation caught most observers off guard.

The incident also complicates what had been a promising free-agency outlook for Usman Nurmagomedov. Having recently completed his contract with the PFL, he was widely regarded as a coveted target for the UFC. White confirmed that Nurmagomedov remains in an exclusive negotiating period with the PFL and that the UFC has not yet entered talks with him.

“He’s still under contract,” White said. “We’re not talking to him right now anyway.” Whether the attack damages any future relationship with the promotion remains an open question White declined to answer directly.