Newly-crowned bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili tried his damndest to keep away from a combat with prime contender Umar Nurmagomedov, campaigning to rematch Sean O’Malley after which providing to battle this former flyweight titleholder earlier than begrudgingly accepting the UFC 311 co-main occasion on Jan. 18 in Los Angeles.
However that doesn’t imply “The Machine” might be engaged on combat night time.
“I can’t (be) shocked, and no person will (be) shocked,” Nurmagomedov instructed UFC (transcribed by Sherdog). “Even proper now I noticed commentary or on Twitter they mentioned he’ll pull out, however he by no means pulled out earlier than. I hope he is not going to, and the combat goes to occur. I feel he simply desires to combat with an actual man he can beat. It doesn’t imply I’m actually going to one hundred pc go contained in the cage and smash him, no. He is aware of different guys, he’ll beat. With me, it’s going to be exhausting. That’s why he’s attempting to be a champion for a very long time, and he desires to combat with O’Malley, with Petr Yan, or another person as a result of these guys, simple cash.”
The 28 year-old Nurmagomedov improved to 18-0 by defeating Cory Sandhagen atop the UFC Abu Dhabi combat card final August. As for Dvalishvili, 33, he bumped his document to 18-4 — and captured the 135-pound crown — with a dominant efficiency over the aforementioned O’Malley at UFC 306 inside Sphere final fall.
“Me, no. For me, he has to go deep waters. With me it’s going to be an extended night time. I can’t give him takedowns, he is not going to management me,” Nurmagomedov continued. “I’ve good abilities, hanging abilities, and I could make for him numerous issues. That’s why, however once we go contained in the cage, I can’t assume he’s petrified of me. I’ll know that it is a man who will attempt to beat me, I’ll attempt to smash him, and it’s going to be a battle. What I perceive is he doesn’t need to take a dangerous combat. He can beat me, it will probably occur. It’s not going to interrupt me. I might be similar Umar. Struggle is combat. Everyone can lose. If we’re speaking about scared, I simply assume he doesn’t need to take threat, exhausting combat.”
For the remainder of the UFC 311 combat card and PPV lineup click on right here.
