18 wins without any losses. That was Umar Nurmagomedov’s record prior to UFC 311, and he was being hyped as the second coming of his cousin, Khabib Nurmagomedov . But Merab Dvalishvili flipped the script and dominated the Dagestan native, giving him his first taste of defeat. But even though ‘The Machine’ handed him his first loss, Umar doesn’t seem to have any feelings of hostility towards his Georgian counterpart.

Merab Dvalishvili has quickly become one of the biggest stars on the current UFC roster. And Umar Nurmagomedov agrees as much. The Dagestan native, who’s making his return this weekend against Mario Bautista at UFC 321, even pushed ‘The Machine’ for a special honor, which is the ‘Fighter of the Year’. Here’s what he had to say.

Umar Nurmagomedov claims Merab Dvalish

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