Umar Nurmagomedov wants to stay active rather than wait for a title fight against Merab Dvalishvili.
Dvalishvili recently won the bantamweight title with a dominant unanimous decision victory over Sean O’Malley in the main event of UFC 306 on September 14. Immediately following the event, as the cameras focused on the Dagestan native, who was in attendance at the event, Joe Rogan asked Dvalishvili about the possibility of defending his title against Nurmagomedov.
While the UFC seems keen to match Dvalishvili up against Nurmagomedov, the new champion has previously criticised the unbeaten challenger, with Dvalishvili accusing Nurmagomedov of being promoted by UFC because of his ties to his cousin, Khabib Nurmagomedov. “The Machine” also interrupted Rogan when he was asked about a potential fight with Dvalishvili, and then went on to slam former flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo.
Dvalishvili’s camp is keen to encourage the champion to fight on his own accord, while Nurmagomedov’s camp seems confident he is the next favourite for the gold medal. That could change, however, as Nurmagomedov has indicated he wants to keep active rather than wait for a title fight. The 28-year-old has recently followed the example of his legendary cousin by issuing a challenge to anyone who can make weight.
“I don’t want to wait until next year. I want to fight,” Nurmagomedov told Gorilla Energy. “I’ll fight whoever it is, even King Kong, make the weight, I’ll fight him. I really don’t care. I don’t want to wait for these guys. I have my goals. I’m going to be the best, so I’ve got to be aggressive!”
Nurmagomedov has won four of his last seven fights at UFC and is just coming off a unanimous decision win over Cory Sandhagen, while Dvalishvili holds the longest winning streak in UFC bantamweight history (10 fights), including one that came by finish.
