Nurmagomedov slaps Dvalishvili to spark hotel brawl

Former UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili and PFL lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov were involved in a mass brawl in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. A video of the incident appeared to show Russian Nurmagomedov slap Dvalishvili after approaching the Georgian from behind. Dvalishvili, 35, is scheduled to compete at the Real American Freestyle (RAF) event in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday, against Brazilian Marlon Moraes.

Dvalishvili called Nurmagomedov, 28, and his team "snakes" in a video he later shared on TikTok as he received treatment on his bloodied face. Dvalishvili called Nurmagomedov's older brother, Umar, "spoiled" before beating him in a bantamweight title fight in 2025. UFC champion Islam Makhachev, who is a close friend and training partner of the Nurmagomedovs, suggested that incident led to Wednesday's altercation.

Two-weight UFC champion Ilia Topuria, a friend of Dvalishvili, shared the footage of the incident on X and wrote: "Usman has reportedly been detained, along with the cowards who were with him. "What a disgrace. A bunch of absolute cowards.