Dvalishvili reveals Nurmagomedov associate grabbed his neck before RAF Georgia brawl

Merab Dvalishvili has broken his silence on the backstage brawl at RAF Georgia in July, revealing that Umar Nurmagomedov’s associate Ahmed Gadzhimagomedov physically grabbed him by the neck before he responded with a slap that ignited the altercation. The UFC bantamweight champion made the comments in an interview with Ariel Helwani.

Dvalishvili had just defeated former UFC champion Henry Cejudo in a wrestling match at the event when he publicly dismissed the idea of a similar bout against Nurmagomedov. Gadzhimagomedov then approached him backstage to challenge those remarks.

“I was super relaxed, super chilled and then somebody came and grabbed my neck and pulled me over and started yelling at me in Russian language, which I hardly understand,” Dvalishvili told Helwani. “And he mentioned Umar. It took me a couple of seconds to realize, ‘Who is this guy to tell me what to talk about him? It’s between me and Umar.”

Dvalishvili, known as “The Machine”, defended his reaction by arguing that Gadzhimagomedov had no standing to intervene in what he considers a personal feud. He also used the opportunity to reiterate his contempt for Nurmagomedov and his manager, Rizvan Magomedov, whom he accused of orchestrating social media attacks against him.

“I have so much respect for all Dagestani people, especially fighters,” he said. “The only guy who I don’t like from Dagestan is Umar and his sneaky manager, Rizvan. The guy who was helping Umar disrespect me on X and Threads.”

The animosity between Dvalishvili and Nurmagomedov stretches back to UFC 311 in Los Angeles, where Dvalishvili handed the Dagestani the only professional loss of his career while defending the bantamweight title for the first time. Dvalishvili went on to make two further successful defences before losing the belt to Petr Yan in a rematch. A trilogy bout between the two is scheduled for UFC 333 on 24 October at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.

Nurmagomedov, meanwhile, has won two consecutive bouts since his defeat to Dvalishvili and is next set to face Yadong Song at UFC Shanghai.