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Merab Dvalishvili explains why he slapped Umar Nurmagomedov’s friend

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Merab Dvalishvili explains why he slapped Umar Nurmagomedov’s friend
Merab
Dvalishvili recently opened up about his backstage altercation
at RAF Georgia.

Dvalishvili defeated fellow former
Ultimate Fighting Championship champ Henry
Cejudo in a wrestling match at RAF Georgia in July. He later
shut down talks of a potential wrestling match against Umar
Nurmagomedov in strong words. Nurmagomedov's friend, Ahmed
Gadzhimagomedov, then approached Dvalishvili and confronted him
about his comments.

Dvalishvili responded by slapping Gadzhimagomedov, leading to an
all-out brawl.

Dvalishvili says Ahmed Gadzhimagomedov grabbed him by the neck
before the RAF Georgia brawl

Dvalishvili says he was relaxing backstage when Gadzhimagomedov
grabbed him by the neck and loudly confronted him in Russian. While
“The Machine†barely understands Russian, he knew Gadzhimagomedov
was talking about Nurmagomedov.

Dvalishvili defends his action, saying Gadzhimagomedov had no
business meddling in the feud between him and Nurmagomedov. The
former UFC bantamweight titleholder also doubled down on his
dislike for Nurmagomedov and his manager Rizvan Magomedov for
allegedly insulting him on social media.

“I was super relaxed, super chilled and then somebody came and
grabbed my neck and pulled me over and started yelling at me in
Russian language, which I hardly understand,†Dvalishvili told
Ariel Helwani. “And he mentioned Umar. It took me a couple of
seconds to realize, ‘Who is this guy to tell me what to talk about
him? It's between me and Umar… I have so much respect for all
Dagestani people, especially fighters. The only guy who I don’t
like from Dagestan is Umar and his sneaky manager, Rizvan. The guy
who was helping Umar disrespect me on X and Threads.â€

Dvalishvili was initially hesitant to face Nurmagomedov in his
first bantamweight title defense, questioning whether the latter
deserved a title shot. They eventually locked horns at
UFC 311 in Los Angeles, where Dvalishvili handed the Dagestani
his lone professional loss, but the bitterness between the two
still persists.

Dvalishvili went on to defend his belt two more times before losing
it in his rematch with Petr Yan and
their trilogy bout is set for
UFC 333 on Oct. 24 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.

Meanwhile, Nurmagomedov picked up two wins after losing to
Dvalishvili and is set to take on Yadong Song
next at
UFC Shanghai.


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MMA

Brian Ortega out of UFC 331; Renato Moicano gets new opponent

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Brian Ortega out of UFC 331; Renato Moicano gets new opponent
Renato
“Money†Moicano vs. Brian
Ortega is no longer part of the upcoming
Ultimate Fighting Championship numbered event.

Ortega has suffered an injury, forcing the cancellation of the bout
scheduled for UFC
331 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Sept. 19. While
“T-City†nurses his injury, Moicano has a new matchup and will now
headline a Fight Night in Las Vegas in October.

Brian Ortega's injury cancels Moicano fight before UFC 331

After his bout with Ortega was pulled from UFC 331, Moicano's next
opponent was announced. The Brazilian is now set to face Tom Nolan in
the main event of the
UFC Fight Night card on Oct. 31 at Meta Apex in Las Vegas.

Ortega took to social media to reveal details of his injury. A deep
cut has forced him out of his UFC lightweight debut and he had to
get stitches above his left eye.

“I have to pull out of the fight because of the stitches in my
eye,†Ortega wrote on Instagram. “I'm on weight, I've been training
my *ss off, and this has honestly been one of the best camps I've
ever had.â€

UFC 331 now has 12 fights on deck, with Gable
Steveson vs. Sean Sharaf
now opening the main card. Joshua Van
vs. Alexandre
Pantoja 2 headlines UFC 331, with Van defending the UFC
flyweight championship against the former champ in a rematch after
an anticlimactic ending to their first meeting, in which Pantoja
suffered an early arm injury.


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Jonathan Haggerty sets sights on Hiroki Akimoto after watching brother win

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Jonathan Haggerty sets sights on Hiroki Akimoto after watching brother win

Jonathan Haggerty spent last Friday watching someone else fight. Next month marks his own turn again, and the stakes are considerably higher for the reigning bantamweight kickboxing king.

Jonathan Haggerty defends his ONE Bantamweight Kickboxing World Championship against former divisional king Hiroki Akimoto in the main event of ONE SAMURAI 4 at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan, on Saturday, October 17.

The assignment comes after Haggerty watched his brother, Freddie Haggerty, grind out a unanimous decision over Rungruanglek TN Muaythai at The Inner Circle 30 in Bangkok's Lumpinee Stadium, a result that pushed Freddie's record to 25-5 and snapped Rungruanglek's five-fight winning streak. Freddie dropped Rungruanglek twice across the opening two rounds before closing the fight out on the back foot with sharp counters.

“It was a great performance. It was pushing for the stoppage, but we didn't get it,†Jonathan said. “It's all love; it's a learning curve. In this sport, you can never stop learning, so we'll go back to the drawing board.â€

Jonathan Haggerty predicts fireworks against Akimoto

Watching his brother's disciplined performance seemed to sharpen Jonathan's own approach heading into his title defense. He has never been one to shy away from bold declarations before a fight, and this time is no different.

The 29-year-old Englishman has spent a run spanning multiple weight classes and two disciplines building toward this kind of stage, defending gold on home soil in Japan against a fighter who once held the very title he now carries.

“I'm more than ready. Fans can expect fireworks, explosiveness, and a knockout.

“Thank you so much for always supporting me for years now. You guys are a big part of ONE Championship. Fans pick you up when you're down. They make you positive. That extra bit of motivation just spurs you on.â€

This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM


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Scott Coker reveals new name for MMA organization, launch plans and details for Grand Prix in 2027

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Scott Coker reveals new name for MMA organization, launch plans and details for Grand Prix in 2027

Scott Coker is officially back in MMA with a new promotion launching in 2027.

On Tuesday, the veteran promoter behind Strikeforce and Bellator MMA announced plans for his new organization — Ki MMA (pronounced Key MMA) — with plans to officially launch early next year. He'll be joined on the new venture by veteran matchmaker Rich Chou, who previously worked with Coker at Strikeforce and Bellator.

As part of Ki MMA, the first major announcement was plans for a Grand Prix tournament featuring 32 fighters from across the globe with events expected to take place on four different continents.

The plan is for the tournament to take place in one weight class for the 32 fighters participating. The first weight class to be featured is 145 pounds/featherweights.

The fights are also expected to take place in a ring rather than a cage, which is a departure from most other major MMA promotions.

More details to come from the press conference announcing Coker's new Ki MMA promotion.

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