UFC Bantamweight Champion Merab Dvalishvili is set to defend his title for the first time against undefeated contender Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311 this Saturday night.
Heading into the highly anticipated co-main event, Dvalishvili has revealed that he dealt with significant injury issues during his training camp but assured fans that he is now fully prepared for the fight.
In a recent interview with Bloody Elbow, as part of his role as a Stake ambassador, Dvalishvili spoke candidly about the challenges he faced.
“I’m good now, I will post the injury or whatever after the fight, but before, I don’t want to show and panic people,” Dvalishvili said. “You know, the injury was serious, like, not a joke. Because I took the fight on six weeks’ notice, I was training hard, and I got a lot of pain, banged up, and I was dealing with some other injuries too. But thank God now I’m OK and ready to go.”
Despite the setbacks, “The Machine” remains confident in his ability to perform on fight night. He emphasized that he was prepared to take more time to recover but stepped up when the UFC asked him to fight in January to accommodate Nurmagomedov’s schedule.
“I was ready to fight and come back after five or six months, like every champion does,” Dvalishvili continued. “They even take more time. But when I said I was going to fight February or March, Umar started complaining and blaming me and disrespecting me.”
The Georgian champ explained that his initial timeline was misunderstood by Nurmagomedov.
“When I said fight February or March, he said February’s fight was in Australia and March was Ramadan. I had no idea because last year, Ramadan was in May. It’s not my problem also – I’m a champion. So Umar wanted to fight January, and UFC asked me. Then I went to UFC and I said, OK, I will step up. I love UFC, so no problem.”
The bout between Dvalishvili and Nurmagomedov represents a clash of styles, with Dvalishvili’s relentless pace and wrestling prowess facing the calculated and undefeated Nurmagomedov.
The champion is determined to prove his resilience and solidify his position as the division’s best.
