Umar Nurmagomedov and Aljamain Sterling have been going at it online with the Dagestani alleging that the UFC welterweight champ, Merab Dvalishvili has been ducking him. Sterling, who happens to be the Georgian’s friend categorically refutes the allegations and has detailed the situation, only to be snubbed by the Dagestani as an “excuse”.
The ‘Young Eagle‘ claimed that Dvalishvili was just making up stories to dodge him and was actually not injured. He tried to expose the alleged double standard of the champion but met with a persistent Sterling before finding his way to the final boss.
However, Nurmagomedov in a recent tweet doubled down and responded with a simple tweet that deemed Sterling’s reasoning as a “cheap excuse.”
‘The Machine’ is currently the king of the bantamweight division and Umar Nurmagomedov is the #2 contender, the next in line for a title shot.
He had beat former title challenger Cory Sandhagen and proved his mettle but the champion remains unconvinced and has called for a February return for his next UFC outing.
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In fact, the Georgian champion was earlier rumored to defend his belt against Nurmagomedov at UFC 310 in December but, due to the rapid turnaround, he ultimately declined the fight date.
Funnily, the date Umar had suggested was to be in December when Merab had called out former champion Sean O’Malley for a fight in November.
Meanwhile, the rumor mills are running amok after some news leaked claiming that UFC was matching Umar against young and coming Song Yadong after the fighter’s coach and teammate, Uriah Faber recently confirmed the news.
Umar vs Song at UFC 311 – Faber confirms
None of this is still decided since there has been no official communication from the UFC, so all this is speculation.
But it does feel like the opportunity for a title shot is going to be a long wait for the #2 contender. After getting dismissed by Dvalishvili for a title shot, the Russian has been rumored to fight young Chinese striker Song Yadong in his next fight.
While neither the UFC nor the fighter confirmed the news, recently former UFC fighter of Team Alpha Male, Urijah Faber revealed that the talks had already begun.
In fact, Faber shut down rumblings of a December showdown and thinks the fight would probably take place on January 18 at UFC 311. Sharing his thoughts to popular MMA influencer Helen Yee, Faber said,
“We don’t have a date for that yet. I don’t think Dec. 14 is the date that we’ve talked about. I think January is what we’re looking at, but we like that fight. I think both Umar and Song are guys that people don’t want to fight, so they’re both willing to step up. I think that’s a good fight.”
After this fight, Nurmagomedov is likely to take a long break owing to the month of Ramadan, following which he wants to keep his winning streak intact with the express aim of going past his cousin Khabib’s 29-0. And if he gets even half of that, the title shot will come, for the champion will no longer be the best fighter in the division.
