Coach sheds light on UFC PI Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Merab Dvalishvili dispute

Yesterday at 06:55 PM

Recently engaging in a dispute regarding training schedule and time ahead of their UFC 311 title fight at the Performance Institute, the background of the issue between Merab Dvalishvili and Umar Nurmagomedov has been revealed by the challenger’s head coach, Javier Mendez.

Set to finally settle their differences next month at UFC 311, undisputed bantamweight champion, Merab Dvalishvili will look to hand incoming title chaser, Nurmagomedov his first-ever professional mixed martial arts defeat in a co-headliner in Los Angeles.

Sidelined since September, Dvalishvili recently extended his stunning winning spree in the main event of Noche UFC at the monumental Las Vegas Sphere, turning in a dominant unanimous decision triumph over defending champion, Sean O’Malley.

And as for Nurmagomedov, the 18-0 unbeaten bantamweight challenger most recently earned himself a title fight against Georgian rival, Merab Dvalishvili with a decision victory of his own over former championship chaser, Cory Sandhagen in the summer in the main event of UFC Fight Night Saudi Arabia.

However, over the course of the week, footage emerged on social media with Merab Dvalishvili claiming he was denied access to the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas, because of Nurmagomedov — who was training in the facility as he attempted to feature too.

Javier Mendez explains UFC PI beef between Merab Dvalishvili, Umar Nurmagomedov

Sharing some details on the alleged incident, Nurmagomedov’s head coach, American Kickboxing Academy mastermind, Mendez questioned how exactly Dvalishvili was “upset” by the incident.

“Well, we’re there from X amount of time to X amount of time, so why can’t he go there at another time?” Mendez told The Schmo. “I mean, you know, when did he ask to go there versus when were we given permission to go there? That’s my question—I want to ask. Or did he just want to come recently, or was this before we decided we were going to train there? I mean, I don’t know.

So my question would be: if we’re already told we’re training from this time to that time until we end up going to Los Angeles, and then you come in and say, ‘I want to train,’ okay, when do you want to train? You want to train while Umar and Islam are already training there? How can you get upset at that? I don’t know. I don’t know the circumstances, but I do know that if we’re already training there and you didn’t ask specifically for that particular time, and we were granted that time, then that’s on the UFC, not on us.

“We’re not trying to interfere with anything he’s doing. You know, we want him to have a great training camp.”