The former UFC bantamweight champion remains in custody after being jumped by Usman Nurmagomedov and a group of men at a hotel.
Merab Dvalishvili is still sitting in an Abu Dhabi jail cell days after a brawl that started outside a hotel elevator and ended up all over the internet. The former UFC bantamweight champion had traveled to Abu Dhabi to fight Marlon Moraes at Real American Freestyle's debut event there, but his trip took a detour when PFL lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov and a group of men attacked him from behind.
Multiple videos circulating online show Nurmagomedov instigating the confrontation while his friends piled on. Dvalishvili had only one person in his corner during the attack, Georgian national wrestling champion Saba Lazishvili.
Local authorities reportedly picked up Nurmagomedov afterward, and word came that Dvalishvili and Lazishvili were also taken into custody. As of now, reports indicate Dvalishvili remains held in Abu Dhabi, with no word yet on when or how the situation will be resolved. The scuffle has made the rounds across MMA media, turning what was supposed to be a crossover freestyle wrestling showcase into a story about a parking lot and hotel lobby brawl instead of anything that happened inside a cage.