Midnight Mania! Merab Dvalishvili will ask Ilia Topuria to help corner him against Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311

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Dan Hiergesell is an expert voice who serves as MMAmania.com's weekend editor, covering mixed martial arts (MMA) for more than 15 years, getting featured on programs such as Countdown to UFC and SiriusXM Fight Club, among others.

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Merab Dvalishvili is nearing his first official defense of the UFC bantamweight title and the Georgian champion will need all the help he can get. That’s because Dvalishvili will be going up against undefeated sensation Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311 on Jan. 18 from Inglewood, California. Nurmagomedov is the cousin of former UFC lightweight champion and undefeated all-time great, Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Despite coming off a unanimous decision win over Sean O’Malley at UFC 306 to win the UFC bantamweight crown, Dvalishvili is currently a +275 underdog entering his clash with Nurmagomedov at UFC 311. That’s also due in part to Nurmagomedov being 18-0 (6-0 UFC) and coming off a lopsided win over Cory Sandhagen last August. He arguably has better wrestling than Dvalishvili and has a pretty robust arsenal on the feet as well. It will be a tough challenge for Dvalishvili as he looks to earn more stripes as champion.

Luckily, Dvalishvili has the support of his home country of Georgia, which includes fellow countryman and UFC champion, Ilia Topuria. The two are more than just acquaintances and fully support one another as UFC titleholders. In fact, Dvalishvili intends to ask “El Matador” to help corner him at UFC 311 later this month. That’s if the UFC featherweight king has time in his busy schedule.

Check it out below:

“Yeah I’m going to ask Ilia [Topuria] if he wants this, we will see,” said Dvalishvili.
“I’m going to ask Ilia if he has time and go from there,” he later added.

What do you think fight fans? Does Dvalishvili have a better chance of defeating Umar Nurmagomedov with Topuria in his corner?

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