UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili has reversed course on his willingness to face Umar Nurmagomedov for his first title defense.

I was watching the fight and in the end he looked at me, I was 10 meters away from him, and he started pointing at me,” Figueiredo said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “I was rooting for him because now we can make this fight happen.

Demetrious Johnson sees UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili having a major advantage over Umar Nurmagomedov. Dvalishvili (18-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC) defeated Sean O’Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) in a dominant decision win to claim the bantamweight title in Saturday’s UFC 306 main event at Sphere in Las Vegas.

Check out the latest update to the MMA Fighting Global Rankings, including Sean O’Malley’s drop from the top, Valentina Shevchenko reclaiming her crown, and a rise of hungry challengers across the divisions.

Sean O'Malley's scorecard for UFC 306 might look different from yours. We're days removed from the UFC's one-and-done show at the Sphere, which saw Merab Dvalishvili (18-4) end a year-long title reign for bantamweight champion O'Malley (18-2,

Despite Dvalishvili’s reluctance, Abdelaziz expects his fighter Umar Nurmagomedov (18-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) to get the next title shot. If victorious, Abdelaziz wants to see Nurmagomedov fight O’Malley in his first title defense, even though O’Malley would be coming off a lopsided title loss.

If now-former UFC men’s bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley didn’t quite look like his usual self at UFC 306 when he lost his title via unanimous decision to Merab Dvalishvili, an injury sustained during his preparations could have been a contributing factor.