Former UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili accuses Usman Nurmagomedov and others of assaulting him and his friend at an RAF media event in Abu Dhabi.
Ilia Topuria, the former two-division UFC champion, uploaded a video from the moment Dvalishvili was attacked.
“You are a bunch of cowards and you will be held accountable for what you did,” Topuria captioned the video. “You are anything but real men.”
Dvalishvili posted a video on Wednesday while being treated by medical professionals. Dvalishvili claimed that he and his friend, visibly bloodied and bruised in the video, were jumped by Usman Nurmagomedov’s team while promoting Real American Freestyle.
“What a sneaky way, guys. Only two of us, me and my friend, came here to Abu Dhabi, and Usman Nurmagomedov and his friends came like snakes from behind,” Dvalishvili said in the video. “What kind of fighters are you? What kind of man does that, brother? If you want to fight, let’s do it like in real life. You came just because we’re both? What the hell?
“We bleed, we fight, we wage war, but you’re just sneaky guys. You’re not real men. It shows your character. It shows you’re not real men. What is it, guys? If you want to fight, fight. Let’s fight, we’re fighters, bro. I’m a real guy, I’m talking shit, but you came from behind, bro. I don’t know how many guys you were. All your friends were waiting for us in a sneaky way. Wow I knew what kind of guys you were I came here to Abu Dhabi and Usman, Umar and his friends came in a sneaky way.
Dvalishvili elaborated on the incident in a post written on social media. Dvalishvili claimed they were attacked from behind in the middle of the interview and that several people held them down while others hit them.
“(I) was doing an interview for the RAF in the hotel lobby and Usman and his cronies came from behind and started beating me and my young friend,” Dvalishvili wrote. “Security was holding me back. They kept kicking us when we were down, like losers.”
Dvalishvili insisted he was fine, while deploring the cowardly methods of his alleged attackers.
“I’m fine, guys, all my friends and family, I’m fine,” he said in the video. “I’m a fucking fighter.”
“We were fighting like real men and you guys were fighting like pussies. Pussies do that, brother. We were down and you were hitting us? Guys, pussies. Pussies. We are warriors, brother.”
Dvalishvili and Umar Nurmagomedov have been tense since the build-up to their January 2025 fight. Dvalishvili, the UFC bantamweight champion at the time, successfully defended his title via unanimous decision.
Usman Nurmagomedov is a free agent who recently joined the Professional Fighters League and, before that, Bellator. He has been seen at recent UFC events.
The Nurmagomedov brothers are cousins and students of retired UFC champion and UFC Hall of Famer Khabib Nurmagomedov. Khabib leapt into the crowd and attacked Dillon Danis moments after submitting Conor McGregor at UFC 229, inciting multi-man brawls inside and outside the Octagon.
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