UFC 311: Dvalishvili retains title by outpointing Nurmagomedov

INGLEWOOD — Something had to give Saturday night at Intuit Dome.

In the UFC 311 co-main event, Merab Dvalishvili was making his first bantamweight title defense and riding an 11-fight winning streak.

Umar Nurmagomedov entered the Octagon with his own eye-popping resume: Not only had the challenger never lost a fight in six UFC performances, he had never lost a round and never been taken down. And he was facing one of the top takedown artists in UFC history.

Dvalishvili’s nickname of “The Machine” lived up to the hype as the Georgian retained his championship with a unanimous decision over Nurmagomedov in the UFC 311 co-main event Saturday.

Merab Dvalishvili (red) battles Umar Nurmagomedov (blue) during their bantamweight championship bout at UFC 311 at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2024. Dvalishvili defeated Nurmagomedov by judges decision to remain the UFC bantamweight champion.(Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

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The judges scored it 48-47, 48-47, 49-46 for Dvalishvili, who came in as a +240 underdog, in what will be regarded as one of the top 135-pound title fights in UFC history.

Dvalishvili landed 104 of 284 significant strikes compared with 75 of 220 for Nurmagomedov.

What’s more, no bantamweight could match Dvalishvili’s 72 career takedowns, and no fighter in UFC history had secured at least 10 takedowns in four bouts.

On this night, 30 times Dvalishvili (19-4) went to take the undefeated Dagestani to the mat – and he succeeded seven times.

The momentum seemed to change after the second round, with Nurmagomedov saying he believed he broke his hand in the first round.

But for the first 10 minutes of the fight, the challenger masterfully managed the champion’s relentless pace.

In the third round, Nurmagomedov appeared to wane, whereas Dvalishvili kept coming. Fourth round, same story: more Dvalishvili as Nurmagomedov slowed.

By the fifth round, the 34-year-old Dvalishvili was stalking his 29-year-old opponent, celebrating takedowns and egging on the crowd, which began the fight chanting “Umar! Umar!” but was roaring “Merab! Merab” toward the end.

Dvalishvili was making his first title defense after winning the belt at UFC 306 with a grappling clinic against champion Sean O’Malley, landing six of 15 takedown attempts en route to unanimous-decision win at The Sphere in Las Vegas. He received a shot at the title with a unanimous-decision victory over former two-division champion Henry Cejudo at UFC 298 in March at Honda Center.

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Nurmagomedov earned Saturday’s opportunity by way of a five-round unanimous-decision thrashing of former interim title challenger Cory Sandhagen in August.

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