Merab Dvalishvili details the backstage altercation with Umar Nurmagomedov supporter in Georgia

Merab Dvalishvili was involved in an altercation backstage at a press conference during a RAF event in Georgia back in July. Now, he has shared details about what exactly happened between him and a supporter of Umar Nurmagomedov.

Merab Dvalishvili reveals how the altercation started

During the buildup to their fight at UFC 311, Dvalishvili and Nurmagomedov exchanged plenty of verbal jabs. However, many expected them to leave the rivalry inside the octagon and remain respectful afterward.

That said, Nurmagomedov suffered a unanimous decision loss at UFC 311, while Dvalishvili successfully defended his bantamweight title. The trash talk continued even after the fight, further intensifying the rivalry between the two fighters and eventually spilling over to their respective fanbases.

Afterward, Dvalishvili was in Georgia for a RAF event, where he was scheduled to compete in a wrestling bout against Henry Cejudo. During the press conference, ‘The Machine’ rejected the idea of wrestling Nurmagomedov in the future and exchanged some heated words.

Backstage after the press conference, an altercation broke out between Dvalishvili and a supporter of Nurmagomedov.

Now, in his recent interview with Ariel Helwani, Dvalishvili opened up about the altercation and shared details. He recalled being pulled over and yelled at in Russian. The Georgian admitted that he understood very little of what was being said, but eventually realized the confrontation was connected to his ongoing rivalry with Nurmagomedov.

Dvalishvili said that the man was apparently telling him not to speak about Nurmagomedov while he was present.

“I was playing with my phone, super relaxed, somebody came and grabbed my neck and pulled me over and started yelling at me Russian language, which I hardly understand,” Dvalishvili shared. “I know only few words and most bad words. He was telling me something very strong like and he mentioned Umar and but I don't know, I don't exactly understand what he told me, but how they wrote down later, I guess he told me, ‘People, I'm here, don't talk about Umar, when you go you can talk.”

Check out Merab Dvalishvili's comments below:

In the buildup to UFC 311, Dvalishvili was of the view that Nurmagomedov doesn't deserve the title shot yet and claimed he was being favored because of his surname, as he is a cousin of Khabib Nurmagomedov. 

Merab Dvalishvili insists his issue is with Umar, not Dagestan

In the interview mentioned above, Dvalishvili emphasized that he has tremendous respect for Khabib, the late Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, and many other fighters from Dagestan. 

He said Umar and his manager are the only people from Dagestan with whom he has a personal issue. He accused them of repeatedly disrespecting him and making comments about his country online.

“I respect Umar's family, Nurmagomedov's family so much,” Dvalishvili said. “I have so much respect the whole team. I have many friends from Dagestan... and I have so much respect for all the Dagestani people, especially fighters.” The only guy from Dagestan I don't like is Umar and his sneaky manager.

As for his next UFC outing, Dvalishvili is set to take on Petr Yan in a trilogy bout at UFC 333. He will try to recapture the bantamweight gold. Meanwhile,  Umaris set to fight Song Yadong this weekend in China.