UFC lightweight division number one Merab Dvalishvili is adamantly opposed to Russian Umar Nurmagomedov facing third-ranked American Corey Sandhagen in his next fight.
Earlier, both fighters gave verbal consent for the bout, which could take place on June 29 at UFC 303 in Las Vegas and determine the next challenger for the championship belt.
“Why is Umar fighting Sandhagen?” said Dvalishvili in an interview with The Schmo. “Why isn’t he fighting Bautista or anyone else? Umar hasn’t fought anyone in the top 15 and Sandhagen has been in the top 10 for a very long time. Umar is good, but he should fight someone else. No one has given me that chance. If you ask me, Sandhagen already deserves a title fight and should fight the winner of the fight between me and O’Malley”
“There’s also Peter Yan who can get another win and get a title fight. And Umar has to fight more, compete against serious opponents. He just beat a debutant, and in his first three fights in the UFC he didn’t fight the toughest opponents – I’m not even sure they’re still in the UFC”
The fight between Sandhagen and Nurmagomedov was supposed to headline UFC on ESPN 50 in Nashville last August, however, the Russian was injured and withdrew from the bout, while the American fighter defeated his compatriot Rob Font, who won by unanimous decision.
Ten days ago, Umar Nurmagomedov successfully resumed his career after more than a year off, defeating organization debutant Bekzat Almakhan by unanimous decision to move up to number ten in the division’s rankings.
Merab Dvalishvili is currently a prime candidate to fight current UFC flyweight champion Sean O’Malley, who successfully defended his title this past weekend against Marlon Vera.
Source: https://fighttime.ru/news/item/34162-dvalishvili-protiv-boya-nurmagomedova-i-sendkhagena.html?rand=19907
