Merab Dvalishvili doesn’t consider his altercation with a fan at UFC 310 was an accident.
On Saturday night time, the UFC bantamweight champion ended up in an incident as he was strolling backstage after cornering pal and teammate Aljamain Sterling in his struggle towards Movsar Evloev. Footage captured by close by followers noticed Dvalishvili being restrained by safety with fellow teammate and UFC fighter Dennis Buzukja truly throwing punches with the individual.
The fan was apparently escorted out of the world with UFC CEO Dana White later calling Dvalishvili his “mini-[Sean] Strickland” attributable to quite a few incidents occurring outdoors the cage, which included the Georgian confronting a heckler on the Craig Jones Invitational in Las Vegas a number of months in the past.
Now Dvalishvili is asking foul on the entire state of affairs by claiming that the one that accosted him as he walked backstage is definitely a “teammate and pal” of his upcoming opponent Umar Nurmagomedov.
“Extra lies, disrespect, and deliberate provocations from Umar’s workforce,” Dvalishvili wrote on Twitter. “Right here’s the actual story,”
The “actual story” entails a minute-long video alleging that the one that acquired into the altercation with Dvalishvili is a longtime pal and supporter of Nurmagomedov and his workforce. The video voiceover alleges that the individual has quite a few pictures posed alongside Nurmagomedov and teammates corresponding to UFC light-weight champion Islam Makhachev.
The video additionally alleges that the entire altercation was constructed round some type of perceived disrespect by Dvalishvili in direction of UFC 310 co-main occasion fighter Shavkat Rakhmonov, who was going through Ian Machado Garry later that very same night time.
Not one of the claims have been verified by Nurmagomedov or his workforce however Dvalishvili is clearly satisfied he acquired arrange and drawn right into a calculated altercation by his subsequent opponent. When White addressed the state of affairs on the UFC 310 post-fight press convention, he acknowledged this newest problem isn’t an remoted incident for Dvalishvili.
Add to that, White says fighters usually construct up these conspiracy theories that any individual is towards them and maybe that’s simply the gasoline Dvalishvili wants for the hearth he’s constructing in direction of the eventual showdown towards Nurmagomedov at UFC 311 on Jan. 18.
“Fighters are a paranoid bunch,” White stated. “There’s all the time some conspiracy towards them. Whether or not it’s us or different individuals. We make fights individuals wish to see. They win or lose the fights on their very own however they’re conspiracy theorists.
“They all the time suppose that any individual is towards them and possibly that’s what they should do to have that psychological factor to exit and do what they do.”
