{"id":967810,"date":"2026-11-12T11:10:10","date_gmt":"2026-11-12T11:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/967810\/"},"modified":"2026-11-12T11:10:10","modified_gmt":"2026-11-12T11:10:10","slug":"hotel-mma-merab-dvalishvili-left-bloodied-after-lobby-ambush-by-usman-nurmagomedov-in-abu-dhabi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/967810\/","title":{"rendered":"Hotel MMA: Merab Dvalishvili left bloodied after lobby ambush by Usman Nurmagomedov in Abu Dhabi"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili and an accompanying friend were left bloodied on Wednesday following a sudden ambush by PFL lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov and a large group of associates in Abu Dhabi<\/p>\n<p>The altercation erupted inside a hotel lobby while Dvalishvili was conducting an interview ahead of his scheduled appearance at the RAF Abu Dhabi grappling event, <a href=\"https:\/\/mmajunkie-eu.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/ufc\/2026\/11\/11\/ufc-merab-dvalishvili-bloodied-alleged-sneak-attack-usman-nurmagomedov-video\/92725166007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">MMA Junkie reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Circulating surveillance footage from the venue appears to show Nurmagomedov approaching Dvalishvili from behind alongside roughly seven other men before the group initiated a physical confrontation.<\/p>\n<p>Shortly after the clash, a visibly bruised and bleeding Dvalishvili took to Instagram while receiving medical attention to condemn the attackers for outnumbering him and striking from behind, challenging them to settle their differences in a fair, one-on-one fight.<\/p>\n<p>Read more:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.plataformamedia.com\/en\/2026\/06\/25\/im-a-danger-to-myself-dustin-poiriers-demons-his-retirement-struggles-and-ufc-fighters-reactions-with-videos\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cI\u2019m a danger to myself\u201d: Dustin Poirier\u2019s demons, his retirement struggles and UFC fighters reactions (with videos)<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The brawl marks the latest escalation in an ongoing feud between Dvalishvili and the Nurmagomedov camp, stemming from his January 2025 victory over Usman\u2019s brother, Umar Nurmagomedov, at UFC 311, as well as a subsequent backstage confrontation in August at RAF Georgia involving one of Umar\u2019s associates.<\/p>\n<p>As Usman Nurmagomedov navigates free agency ahead of a widely anticipated move to the UFC, it remains uncertain whether Dvalishvili\u2019s injuries will impact his scheduled wrestling bout against Marlon Moraes on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\ud83d\udea8 Full footage of the brawl between Usman Nurmagomedov and Merab Dvalishvili is INSANE \ud83d\ude2c<\/p>\n<p>(via @RedCorner_MMA) https:\/\/t.co\/uSqGbjfsyc<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ChampRDS\/status\/2120576747062112408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">November 11, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili and an accompanying friend were left bloodied on Wednesday following a sudden&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":967811,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,638,82,181,329839],"class_list":["post-967810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-world-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=967810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/967811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=967810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=967810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=967810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}