Bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili is in Abu Dhabi for UFC 308 and has been more than happy to be involved in pressers with the fans and media to answer their questions. But as one can imagine there is only one answer the MMA community wants from Merab- is he scared of Umar Nurmagomedov?
A fan in the audience took the time to accuse the champ of ducking Nurmagomedov, and the usually calm Georgian lost his temper.
He blew his whistle at the mention of the #2 ranked bantamweight fighter and asserted how the Nurmagomedov scion does not deserve the title shot.
Fans in the comments section could not believe how triggered ‘The Machine’ got just because a fan accused him of ducking,
One fan put this series of events into perspective and said, “Merab: “I will fight anyone Dana and Hunter choose okay?” Then a second later; “Sean deserves the fight and I will fight him.” You are a chicken Merab Dvalishvili”
One fan compared it with the situation in UFC’s heavyweight division situation by saying, “Not sure who is more scared of someone Merab regarding Umar Or Jones regarding Tom”. Another fan called out Dvalishvili for being scared of losing the title in what would be his first defense of the UFC gold and said, “Helpless merab fearing to lose his belt fighting Umar”.
This fan pointed out how it was a terrible look for the champion to be so evasive of a challenger in the division: “This is a terrible look for Merab. Just awful. For whatever reason, pretty obvious at this point he does not want to fight Umar.”
According to this user, the situation was so dire in MMA that wrestlers are now scared of fighting each other in the UFC. He simply said, “Even wrestlers are ducking wrestlers.”
Dvalishvili’s entire argument was that Umar himself was looking for another fight. However, recent developments indicate that the #2 ranked fighter still wants the title shot.
Umar calls out Merab again
Umar has made it clear that the fight against Song Yadong will not be taking place in December so all his attention is back on securing a title fight.
The ‘Young Eagle’ wants to fight in December, but Merab has made it clear that he will not be fighting till next year. So ‘Young Eagle‘ put out a message to the champ on Twitter,
“Yadong declined to fight in December — I was told he is injured. Merab, before my fight with Sandhagen, you said that if I beat him, I would deserve recognition. Now you have changed your position — decide who you are.”
Nurmagomedov called out ‘The Machine’ for not sticking to his word and even pointed out how fans and journalists alike are now noticing that the champ is avoiding this fight.
Funnily enough, the whataboutery that Merab is indulging in right now is what he had to face himself as Sean O’Malley wanted to move to a different weight class to avoid fighting him.
The bullied do become bullies eventually then?
