Umar Nurmagomedov is eager to stay active instead of waiting for a title shot against Merab Dvalishvili.
Dvalishvili recently won the bantamweight title with a dominant unanimous decision win over Sean O’Malley in the main event at UFC 306 on Sept. 14. Joe Rogan asked Dvalishvili about potentially defending his strap against Nurmagomedov immediately afterwards as the camera focused on the Dagestani, who was attending the event.
While the UFC appears keen on setting up a clash between Dvalishvili and Nurmagomedov, the newly-crowned champ has been critical of the undefeated contender for a while now. Dvalishvili has accused Nurmagomedov of being promoted by the UFC due to his relation to his cousin, Khabib Nurmagomedov. “The Machine” also stalled Rogan when asked about a potential Dvalishvili matchup and later went on to call out former flyweight champ Deiveson Figueiredo.
While Dvalishvili’s camp is rallying hard for the champ to call his own shots, Nurmagomedov’s camp sounded confident that he is next in line for the gold bid. However, that could have potentially changed with Nurmagomedov expressing interest in staying active instead of waiting for the title shot. The 28-year-old recently borrowed a page from his legendary cousin’s book to issue 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. “Anyone, even if it’s King Kong — let them make weight and we’ll fight. I really don’t care. I don’t want to wait for these guys. I have my own goal. I’m going to be the greatest, so I have to be active!”
Nurmagomedov has finished four of his seven UFC wins so far and is fresh off a unanimous decision win over Cory Sandhagen. Meanwhile, Dvalishvili is riding the longest winning streak (10) in UFC bantamweight history, which includes one finish.
