Ex-UFC Champion Believes Merab Dvalishvili Deserves Better Treatment

When UFC men’s bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili defends his title against Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311 on January 18, he’ll be almost exactly four months removed from winning the title at Noche UFC in September.

Dvalishvili’s friend, training partner and former 135-pound champion Aljamain Sterling thinks the former was rushed into the title defense.

“This fight is being made on six weeks’ notice? Maybe six-and-a-half,” Sterling said on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “For a title fight? I understand having to do that if you’re a challenger, but as a champion, you shouldn’t be relegated to those type of stipulations. It’s just not right. Then it leaves a bad taste in your mouth as in, ‘Why did I work so hard to get to this position to call the shots or some of the shots?’ And you’re not even getting a fair shake in it.”

Here is a look at the entire interview.

Sterling has a point: champions should be allowed to function as the A-side of negotiations. However, it does feel as though Dvalishvili allowed the online trash talk from Nurmagomedov and his manager Ali Abdelaziz to get under his skin. We’ve seen a few instances when fans have been able to incite Dvalishvili to engage in physical altercations.

Once Nurmagomedov and Abdelaziz launched an all-out campaign to irritate Dvalishvili, it was clear it was just a matter of time before the champion buckled to the pressure. Helwani and Sterling both voiced their concerns about Dvalishvili keeping his cool before and during the fight with Nurmagomedov.

From the sounds of it, keeping Dvalishvili on an even keel might be the biggest challenge of the training camp.

As it is, we have what looks like an excellent fight on paper. Dvalishvili-Nurmagomedov is the co-main event on a stacked UFC 311 card that has Islam Makhachev defending his lightweight title against Arman Tsarukyan in the main event.

In addition to the two title fights, former light heavyweight champions Jiri Prochazka and Jamahal Hill will battle in a key fight in the 205-pound division. Also, former ONE champion Reinier de Ridder continues his quest to push himself into UFC title contention.

RDR takes on Kevin Holland. Also, heavyweight contender Jailton Almeida clashes with Serghei Spivac to round out the excellent main card.

Here is a look at the entire UFC 311 card set for the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles.

UFC 311 PPV Main Event on ESPN+ PPV

• UFC Lightweight Championship: (c) Islam Makhachev vs. Arman Tsarukyan
• UFC Men’s Bantamweight Championship: (c) Merab Dvalishvili vs. Umar Nurmagomedov
• Heavyweight: Jailton Almeida vs. Serghei Spivac
• Light Heavyweight: Jiri Prochazka vs. Jamahal Hill
• Middleweight: Kevin Holland vs. Reinier de Ridder

UFC 311 Prelims Card on ESPN+ (8 p.m. ET)

• Men’s Bantamweight: Rinya Nakamura vs. Muin Gafurov
• Light Heavyweight: Johnny Walker vs. Bogdan Guskov
• Women’s Bantamweight: Karol Rosa vs. Ailín Perez
• Middleweight: Zach Reese vs. Sedriques Dumas

UFC 311 Early ‘Prelims’ Card on ESPN+

• Men’s Bantamweight: Payton Talbott vs. Raoni Barcelos
• Men’s Bantamweight: Ricky Turcios vs. Benardo Sopai
• Lightweight: Grant Dawson vs. Diego Ferreira