Quote from: pawel7777 on July 26, 2025, 08:49:28 PM

Quote from: tokeweed on July 26, 2025, 01:27:12 PM

As for Dvalishvili, imho I think he's one of the more popular champs currently reigning in the UFC. He's very relatable with lots of charisma. As for Dana White 'hating' on him, how could he? He prolly hates the stupid sht he does outside the UFC as he's getting himself into unnecessary risks which could get him injured and affect the UFC's bottom line. But other than that, I don't think Dana White hates him. If he did, he wouldn't be giving him the title fight against Sean O'Malley.
(...)

I too don't quite understand the rumour about Dana White hating Merab. Maybe he did say something that could suggest that in the past, and/or maybe that was just the assumption that people had after Merab defeated O'Malley for the first time. O'Malley was considered to be one of the most hyped-up fighters, a cash-cow if you will. But Merab has proven to be even more charismatic (at least in my opinion) and even more entertaining, so I don't think Dana/the UFC have a lot to complain about. Merab's emergence to the top was a fresh breeze in the bantamweight. Every division needs at least a few interesting and capable fighters, so things don't get stale.

Dana White just made some comments how dumb Dvalishvili was for doing some stuff for his IG, risking injury. I mean I get that Dvalishvili was just having fun but doing risky sht a couple of weeks before the event will surely make the UFC furious as they're banking on the guy. Cheesy

Funny dynamic between Dana and Dvalishvili tho.

Here are the results... The underdogs were hitting. Congrats to the guys who went for some of them.

Reinier de Ridder def. Robert Whittaker
Petr Yan def. Marcus McGhee
Sharabutdin Magomedov def. Marc-André Barriault
Asu Almabayev def. José Ochoa
Bogdan Guskov def. Nikita Krylov
Bryce Mitchell def. Said Nurmagomedov
Muslim Salikhov def. Carlos Leal Miranda
Davey Grant def. Da'Mon Blackshear
Tabatha Ricci def. Amanda Ribas
Billy Elekana def. İbo Aslan
Steven Nguyen def. Mohammad Yahya
Martin Buday def. Marcus Buchecha

UFC Abu Dhabi: Post Fight Press Conference
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBCHxhoJw6U