Some fans have suggested that bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili is scared to fight Umar Nurmagomedov after having tried to dismiss the idea of fighting him several times, but it seems the title challenger doesn’t totally agree with that assessment.
Ahead of their UFC 311 headlining showdown on January 18th in California, Nurmagomedov states his belief that it’s not so much that Dvalishvili is scared of him, but rather just that the champion has been doing his best to fight someone less dangerous than him.
“I think he just wants to fight with a guy who [he] can beat,” Nurmagomedov said in a new UFC pre-fight interview. “It does not mean I 100 percent go inside the cage and smash him. No. He knows, other guys, he will beat [them]. Me? It’s going to be hard. That’s why he tried to be champion a long time. He wants to fight with O’Malley or with Petr Yan or someone else because he knows these guys, easy money. Me? Not.
“For me, he has to go deep waters. For me, it’s going to be a long night. I will not give him takedowns; he will not control me. I have good skills, striking skills, and I can make for him a lot of problems. That’s why. But when we go inside the cage, I will not think he’s scared of me. I will know this is a man who will try to beat me. I am a man who will try to smash him, and it’s going to be a battle.
“What I know, what I understand, he does not [want a] risky fight. He can beat me; it can happen. It’s not going to break me. I will be the same Umar. Fighting is fighting. Everybody can lose, everybody can win. We’re not talking about what’s going to happen in the fight. If we’re talking about scared, I think he just wants to take [less] risk.”
And Nurmagomedov was keen to point out that he’ll pose problems for Dvalishvili regardless of where the fight goes in two weeks time.
“He will not [beat me],” Nurmagomedov said. “I can’t imagine how he will beat me. He can’t hold me. OK, maybe he will take me down one time, but he has to hold me there. He can’t. He has to punch. It’s not going to be how he did always. I’m not the person who will go crazy.
“But I can wrestle, too. Don’t forget about it. But I can finish. If he gives me his back, I’m going to choke you. Be careful.”
