Javier Mendez is confused why Merab Dvalishvili doesn’t want to fight Umar Nurmagomedov.
Dvalishvili (18-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC) dethroned Sean O’Malley with a dominant decision win to claim the bantamweight title in Saturday’s UFC 306 headliner at Sphere in Las Vegas. In the post-fight news conference, Dvalishvili insisted that Deiveson Figueiredo is a more worthy challenger than Nurmagomedov.
Mendez doesn’t want to accuse Dvalishvili of being scared of Nurmagomedov (18-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC), but says he should fight whoever the UFC declares as No. 1 contender.
“I don’t know what the hell to think because how can you say the other person is more deserving when the ranking put Umar as No. 2?” Mendez told Submission Radio. “And they also promised Umar the fight or whoever the winner was going to be between Sandhagen and Umar that they would get the next title shot. The UFC is coming through with their with their promise and that’s what they’re trying to put together.
“Why Merab is trying to maybe avoid him – I don’t know if he is or isn’t. I really don’t know. It’s weird. My fighters, what I tell them is, when you’re the champion, you just get ready to fight whoever they put in front of you, you fight. If you’re not a real champion, then fine – pick who you want to pick. But if you’re the real champion, you fight. The only thing you should be able to choose is the dates.”
Mendez admits he initially hoped Nurmagomedov would have fought bigger star O’Malley for the title. The American Kickboxing Academy head coach also thinks Nurmagomedov would have done more damage on the ground to O’Malley than Dvalishvili did.
“It would have played out different,” Mendez said. “It wouldn’t have been the same. Sure, on the ground, it would have been bad for O’Malley, but he might have got finished on the ground with Umar, had Umar been able to take him to the ground. More than likely, I think, based on what I saw, if had it been Umar on the ground on him like that, Umar is more of a submission specialist than Merab is.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 306.
