Police step in
The hotel lobby fight in Abu Dhabi now has legal consequences. Police in the emirate said on Thursday they had arrested eight people involved in a brawl at the entrance of a hotel, a clash they linked to earlier disputes between the parties. Two more people were detained for filming the incident, and authorities said legal measures had been taken against them. The statement was relayed by Reuters.
The two names at the centre of it are well known. Merab Dvalishvili, the former UFC bantamweight champion, and Usman Nurmagomedov, the former PFL lightweight king, were both in the UAE this week for Real American Freestyle, the freestyle wrestling league launched in 2025. Videos of the scuffle spread fast on social media, and both fighters had already been taken to a police station on Wednesday.
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Usman out, Merab in doubt
RAF co-founder Chad Bronstein didn’t hedge on one of them. He said it was obvious Usman Nurmagomedov would not be at Saturday night’s event. On Dvalishvili he was more hopeful, saying the organisation wants him to compete after travelling all that way, and calling him an exceptional competitor for RAF. No final decision has been announced.
According to RMC Sport, Dvalishvili had only one friend with him when the fight broke out, while Nurmagomedov arrived with several members of his entourage.
An old feud
This didn’t come from nowhere. Tension between Dvalishvili and Umar Nurmagomedov, Usman’s cousin, has been building since the Georgian beat Umar in January 2025. It reportedly got worse this summer after an altercation between Dvalishvili and Ahmed Gadzhimagomedov, a Dagestani wrestler close to both Nurmagomedovs, also at an RAF event. The timing is awkward for MMA as a whole, with UFC 334 set for New York on Saturday.
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