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UFC President warns Merab Dvalishvili over his vow of not fighting Aljamain Sterling
World No.3 Merab Dvalishvili has reiterated that he is a close friend of the current champion and will only fight for the title when Sterling moves up in the weight class to leave the title vacant.
World No.3 Merab Dvalishvili surpassed world No.2 Petr Yan in the main event of Bantamweight in Las Vegas on Saturday. In the five round match, Dvalishvili won by 50-45, 50-45 and 50-45. In a display of sheer domination and control, he secured a perfect 10 from each of the three judges in all the rounds.
Since Dvalishvili's victory, fans are wondering if there will be a title fight between current bantamweight Champion Aljamain Sterling and Dvalishvili. However, the world No.3 has reiterated that he is a close friend of the current champion and will only fight for the title when Sterling moves up in the weight class to leave the title vacant.
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UFC president Dana White has reacted to Dvalishvili's vow. In an interaction with UFC APEX on Saturday night, White advised Dvalishvili to leave friendship aside and focus on his career.
“I don’t remember who the hell I was talking to the other day about this and I was like, ‘We don’t have to deal with that bulls*** anymore," said White.
“Back in the early days, the camps were so small you didn’t have a lot of different options, so we had a lot of these guys saying, ‘Oh, he’s my friend, he’s my friend.’ You can still be friends and want what your friend has. It would be a really bad idea for Merab to go down that path,” he added.
However, there is every chance that the status quo between Sterling and Dvalishvili might get changed in future. Interestingly, current Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones and MMA fighter Rashad Evans had refused to fight one another after training. But consequently the two stars locked horns with each other in a light heavyweight title bout at UFC 145.
