Umar Nurmagomedov Rips Merab Dvalishvili Over RAF Event Brawl With Friend

Umar Nurmagomedov and Merab Dvalishvili already spent 25 minutes in a cage together — Dvalishvili taking a unanimous decision at UFC 311 in January 2025 to keep his bantamweight title — and the animosity clearly didn't die with the scorecards. This past July, at the inaugural RAF Georgia event, one of Nurmagomedov's friends and the champion got into a physical scuffle in the crowd, and Umar isn't letting it slide.

The flashpoint came during a pre-fight press conference. Asked if he'd wrestle Nurmagomedov in an RAF grappling bout, Dvalishvili flatly refused, cursing his rival and saying he'd fight anyone RAF picked except the "spoiled guy." Things escalated from there, with Umar's friend — identified only as Ahmad — later trading words and then blows with the champ in the crowd.

Speaking to journalist Adam Zubayraev, Nurmagomedov laid the blame squarely on Dvalishvili. He said Ahmad simply approached the champion to ask why he was talking about someone who wasn't there, and that no insults or disrespect were thrown. According to Umar, it was Dvalishvili who let the confrontation boil over into something physical.

Where This Started

The feud traces back to 2024, when Nurmagomedov was climbing the 135-pound ladder as an undefeated contender gunning for the man at the top. The UFC 311 booking was the natural collision. Dvalishvili out-worked and out-lasted him over five rounds — a familiar script for a champion whose entire game is volume and pace rather than power. Notice his 21-5 record carries just three knockouts and two submissions.

Since then, Dvalishvili's own title reign hit a wall: he dropped a unanimous decision to Petr Yan in his most recent outing, muddying a division that once looked like his personal fiefdom. That opens a door for a rematch, and Umar has floated the idea more than once.

For now, though, he insists he wants nothing to do with his Georgian rival. Nurmagomedov said he genuinely doesn't care what Dvalishvili does or how he feels, and that he has nothing to prove to Merab, to Georgians, or to anyone else — he just wants to live his life. He also questioned how the champ, and the people defending him, could be comfortable with how the RAF incident went down.

The talking can wait, because Umar has a job to do first. He fights Song Yadong in the UFC Shanghai main event on Aug. 29, chasing a third straight win to rebuild his case for another crack at the belt. Handle Song, and the rematch conversation stops being wishful thinking.