Champion talks to Joe Rogan mid-match en route to record-breaking title win

On By Littum

Merab Dvalisvhili set the pace for Umar Nurmagomedov as they settled an intense feud when they finally stepped into the Octagon on Saturday night.

The bantamweight duo had no love lost after a rivalry that nearly came to a standstill at their launch press conference. And they entered UFC 311 with fans completely divided on who they thought would win the grudge match.

Dvalishvili had just won the belt from Sean O’Malley at UFC 306 back in September, and admitted heading into the fight that he would have preferred a later date. However, that didn’t happen and he was forced to defend on the first map of the year.

Merab Dvalishvili vs Umar Nurmagomedov UFC 311 result

In an interesting twist, famed middleweight mauler Chris Leben was one of the judges for this five-round showdown; his first title fight since transitioning from fighting in 2022. And he was put to work by the two grappling fighters who had a few close early rounds.

Despite months of bitter feuding that included the champion being denied access to the UFC Performance Institute, the pair were tentatively engaged early on. Eventually, Merab Dvalishvili began to open up, even surviving a takedown attempt as he found some success on the feet.

(RL) Merab Dvalishvili of Georgia beats Umar Nurmagomedov of Russia in the UFC bantamweight bout during the UFC 311 event at Intui...
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Right at the end of the first, Umar Nurmagomedov landed a solid right hand that touched the champion and slightly stiffened his legs. The second started a little more aggressively, with both men making their moves for a takedown.

As the champion fired and briefly appeared to land a takedown, Nurmagomedov ended up reversing the momentum and landing one of his own. He ended up back on his feet, with Dvalishvili landing big shots but also taking rare steps back.

In the fourth, with seconds remaining, the champion finally got the elusive takedown that saw him match Georges St-Pierre’s UFC takedown record. He managed to score two more in the bottom of the fifth after showboating and throwing a huge offense.

And the Georgian managed another major decision victory to defend his belt for the first time. 48-47 on two cards and 49-46 on another was the score to secure his victory.

Merab Dvalishvili had bad blood with Umar Nurmagomedov before UFC 311

The champion had felt that Nurmagomedov’s path to the belt was not a legitimate path and that he had somewhat cheated himself of a shot at the title. He believed that either O’Malley or Petr Yan deserved rematches with him for the title given their more impressive resumes.

“I never said he’s not a good fighter,” he told Bloody Elbow before the fight. “I say he’s a good fighter, but he takes shortcuts, you know. He cheated a little bit because he fought nobody and guys on their debut.

(RL) Umar Nurmagomedov of Russia beats Merab Dvalishvili of Georgia in the UFC bantamweight bout during the UFC 311 event at Intui...
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

“And then from the debut guy he fought number two, you know, it’s, it’s a gift and it’s a shortcut. And that’s not how you want to earn your title shot. It’s not right. In my opinion, he should fight one more. Maybe against Song Yadong.

“But when the UFC asked me, I said, okay, I want to fight him. But I wanted to fight in February or March. But that’s what I said. Why don’t I like him? Because he called me a fake champion. He was also disrespectful to my country.”

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