Merab Dvalishvili Bloodied in Abu Dhabi Hotel Ambush Days Before His Saturday Match

Merab Dvalishvili built his reputation by walking straight at opponents. On Wednesday in Abu Dhabi, the former UFC bantamweight champion says the fight came at him from behind.

Dvalishvili was recording an interview in a hotel lobby ahead of this weekend's Real American Freestyle card when Usman Nurmagomedov and a group of men approached him from behind, according to The National and Fox News' OutKick. OutKick reported that Nurmagomedov slapped Dvalishvili across the face and that at least six people were drawn into the melee that followed. The National, which described Nurmagomedov striking the Georgian, said the 35-year-old was left with at least one cut to the head and a bloodied face.

Footage of the confrontation was first shared by Ilia Topuria, according to The National, which reported that the post has since been deleted. Sportsnaut, in a report carried by Yahoo Sports, said separate footage posted to Instagram by another account appears to back up Dvalishvili's account. Sportscape Magazine described the scuffle as lasting about a minute, with Dvalishvili's side badly outnumbered.

Soon afterward, Dvalishvili posted his own video while medics treated him. In the caption, he said he was doing an interview when Nurmagomedov and his friends came up from behind and began punching him and a young friend, and that security was holding him back while the group kept kicking them. "We bleed, we fight, we war, but you guys are just sneaky guys," he said in the video, as quoted by OutKick. He challenged the group to settle it in a real fight.

Topuria went further. In a post quoted by Sportscape, he said Nurmagomedov had reportedly been detained along with others in his group, and called them "a bunch of absolute cowards". None of the reports cited a police or government statement confirming any detention, and The National said Real American Freestyle had been contacted for comment. No statement from Nurmagomedov appeared in the coverage.

The bad blood runs back to January 2025, when Dvalishvili beat Usman's older brother, Umar Nurmagomedov, by unanimous decision at UFC 311 to defend his bantamweight title. The National reported that Dvalishvili also had a run-in with an associate of Umar's before UFC Georgia and that the two camps have traded insults in the media ever since. The brothers are cousins of retired champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, according to OutKick.

Dvalishvili's title run is over for now. He won the belt from Sean O'Malley at UFC 306 and beat O'Malley again at UFC 316 in June 2025, a night President Trump attended, before losing the championship to Petr Yan by unanimous decision the following December. He fell to Yan again by unanimous decision on Oct. 24 in Abu Dhabi, in the co-main event of UFC 333.

Usman Nurmagomedov, 28, is unbeaten at 22-0 and is a former Bellator champion who defended his PFL lightweight title in July, according to Sportsnaut. Sportsnaut reported that his 90-day non-compete clause reportedly ran out at the end of October, leaving him a free agent, and The National said he is widely expected to sign with the UFC. OutKick still described him as the PFL's lightweight champion, a point on which the outlets differed.

Dvalishvili is scheduled to face Marlon Moraes on Saturday night at Etihad Arena, part of Real American Freestyle's first card in the Middle East. Umar Nurmagomedov is also on the card, against Urijah Faber, according to The National, which said Usman is not booked but often travels to his brother's bouts. The National said it was unclear whether Dvalishvili's injuries would keep him out of his match, and no withdrawal had been reported as of Wednesday.

Combat sports ask one simple thing of the men in them: settle it face to face, under the rules, with a referee watching. That is what separates a sport from a street brawl, and it is why fans respect even the fighters they root against. Walking up behind a man in the middle of an interview, with a crowd of friends in tow, is the opposite of that code.

Dvalishvili has always stood for the hard, honest kind of toughness, the kind built on pace, conditioning and outworking the man across from you. Whatever grievance the other camp carries, the place to air it was across from him in competition, where his brother already had his chance. The promotions now courting Usman Nurmagomedov, the UFC among them, will have to weigh what that footage shows before handing out a contract.

If Dvalishvili walks out on Saturday with stitches over his eye and competes anyway, he will be answering the right way. That is the kind of example young athletes ought to be watching this week.