Merab Dvalishvili doesn't care if he goes to jail over Umar Nurmagomedov disrespect, demands apology

Merab Dvalishvili demands his respect as the UFC bantamweight champion.

Georgia's "Machine" is set to face undefeated 18-0 contender Umar Nurmagomedov for his first title defense at UFC 311 on Jan. 18 in Los Angeles. There was some initial hesitancy and reluctance from Dvalishvili to fight and return as early as he will, and Nurmagomedov repeatedly — and very publicly — claimed the champion didn't want the fight. Words were exchanged and tensions ultimately boiled over in dramatic fashion Friday at UFC 311's kickoff press conference.

To say the champion hasn't appreciated his challenger's slights would be an understatement.

"I'm a man first," Dvalishvili explained Tuesday on Uncrowned's "The Ariel Helwani Show." "If you come to my face and if you disrespect me, you're going to get slapped. Don't try that because I'm a man and I will never forgive you, even if I have to go to jail. I don't care, man. I have so much to lose. I don't care [about] this belt, I don't care [about] this money, I don't care this legacy. I'm a man, I live in a respectful way, and that's all I believe.

"Especially now I'm a U S. citizen, I can f***ing fight, beat the s*** out of these motherf***ers and I have no problem to pay the bill, ticket, or go to jail. Because I don't care. Don't disrespect me."

Dvalishvili and Nurmagomedov didn't get physical in their first face-to-face interaction, but it was a tense evening inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena nonetheless.

In truth, any online banter from Nurmagomedov has been relatively tame compared to some of the venom spewed in MMA. But for Dvalishvili, it's not necessarily about the specifics of Nurmagomedov's trash talk, but the two-faced nature he believes his challenger continues to present.

"After I said, 'I'm ready for a fight in February or March,' he blamed me, 'Oh Merab, you're ducking me because Ramadan [starts in February],' and after [that] he called me so many bad words," Dvalishvili said. "I can just go [look through] Google and see what he tweeted about me and disrespected me.

"When I met him [face-to-face], I asked, 'Why you disrespect me?' He said, 'Because I wanted. What are you going to do about it?' OK, what I'm going to do about it? I'm going to show him.

"If he say, 'Hey, I'm sorry, it was just because I want to fight with you. And I'm sorry, my friend. I already apologized on Twitter.' Because he did apologize in Twitter. And if he says [the] same thing, 'Hey, sorry, I apologize if I somehow I disrespect you,' I will forgive him. But he gave me an even different reaction. He said, 'Yes, I disrespect you because I wanted. What are you going to do about it?' And then I tell you, 20 minutes later, he lie in the press conference. He say, 'I never disrespect you. I never disrespect your country or your nation.'

"He's a liar, and then he's a piece of s***, and he has to get it," the champ concluded.

Dvalishvili, 33, has been seemingly unbreakable inside the Octagon, racking up a UFC record 11 consecutive wins in the division. However, the same can't be said about his emotions outside of the cage.

Georgia's finest found himself in a bit of an altercation at UFC 310 on Saturday. A fan video on the night captured Dvalishvili getting aggressive with a crowd member as he was restrained by security guards. According to Dvalishvili, the incident occurred after longtime teammate Aljamain Sterling lost a decision to Movsar Evloev, and the antagonist grabbed Dvalishvili when walking to the back of the arena.

"I don't really speak Russian, but I know the bad words that he was cursing at me, cursing my family. And also he told me, 'Do you understand, right?' And he was cursing at me," Dvalishvili said.

"Security was there. I really wanted to punch his face, but security also realized that he was cursing at me. Security can tell this guy was talking trash and security [held] me [back], and it was so hard, man. I'm a man, I'm a fighter. I live in a respectful way. Then some stupid dumbass disrespects me — of course I will fight. So I wasn't able to go close to the guy because of security, but my friend got my back and he slapped this motherf***er. And then this motherf***er a couple hours later — the UFC security told me they kick him out from the arena. But I go his Instagram and he was somewhere else watching fights, no problem.'"

Dvalishvili noted that he left UFC 311 afterward at the behest of the promotion and wasn't in the mood to stick around regardless. Dvalishvili later posted a thorough breakdown of the altercation on social media, alleging it to be a setup by Nurmagomedov.

UFC 311 will be Dvalishvili's opportunity to let out his frustrations.

"Umar was proud. He was supporting [it], which also shows Umar is not a good guy," Dvalishvili said. "If any of my friends or anybody I know that try to provoke Umar or touch Umar or try fight with Umar, I will never support this. I will tell my friend or whoever will be, 'Hey, it's not your business. You should not mess with a professional fighter.' It doesn't matter if it's Umar or anybody else.

"Umar was supporting this guy and he was taking pictures with this guy, was taking pictures with Islam [Makhachev] and other guys."