Usman Nurmagomedov slaps Dvalishvili to start hotel lobby brawl in Abu Dhabi
PFL lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov and former UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili clashed in an Abu Dhabi hotel on Wednesday. Members of both teams joined the fight, days before an RAF event in the UAE.
A mass brawl broke out in a hotel lobby in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. Former UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili and PFL lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov were at the centre of it, BBC Sport reported. A video appeared to show the Russian approach the Georgian from behind and slap him. Fighting then erupted between the two men and members of their teams. Dvalishvili, 35, later posted a video on TikTok while receiving treatment for his bloodied face. In it, he called Nurmagomedov, 28, and his team "snakes". He also challenged them: "What kind of fighters you guys are? What kind of man does this? If you want to try, let's do it the real way." Two-weight UFC champion Ilia Topuria, a friend of Dvalishvili, shared the footage on X. He wrote that Usman had "reportedly been detained" along with those who were with him. He also called the group cowards. BBC Sport did not independently confirm any detention. The Nurmagomedov camp pointed to an earlier clash. UFC champion Islam Makhachev is a close…
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