Umar Nurmagomedov wouldn't be surprised if Merab Dvalishvili pulled out of UFC 311

Umar Nurmagomedov hopes Merab Dvalishvili makes it to their fight at UFC 311.

Nurmagomedov (18-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) challenges bantamweight champion Dvalishvili (18-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC) in the Jan. 18 co-main event from Inglewood, Calif. (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+).

Dvalishvili has been vocal about not wanting to fight Nurmagomedov, deeming him as an unworthy title challenger. When asked if he worries that Dvalishvili doesn’t make it, Nurmagomedov didn’t rule out the possibility.

“I will not (be) surprised, and nobody will (be) surprised,” Nurmagomedov told the UFC on the possibility of Dvalishvili pulling out. “Even right now I saw commentary or on Twitter they said he will pull out, but he never pulled out before. I hope he will not, and the fight is going to happen.”

Dvalishvili, willing to run things back with Sean O’Malley and Petr Yan, rubbed Nurmagomedov the wrong way. He thinks Dvalishvili knows the challenge he faces ahead of him.

“I think he just wants to fight with a real guy he can beat,” Nurmagomedov said. “It doesn’t mean I’m really going to 100 percent go inside the cage and smash him, no. He knows other guys, he will beat. With me, it’s going to be hard. That’s why he’s trying to be a champion for a long time, and he wants to fight with O’Malley, with Petr Yan, or someone else because these guys, easy money. Me, no. For me, he has to go deep waters. With me it’s going to be a long night. I will not give him takedowns, he will not control me.

“I have good skills, striking skills, and I can make for him a lot of problems. That’s why, but when we go inside the cage, I will not think he’s scared of me. I will know that this is a man who will try to beat me, I will try to smash him, and it’s going to be a battle. What I understand is he doesn’t want to take a risky fight. He can beat me, it can happen. It’s not going to break me. I will be same Umar. Fight is fight. Everybody can lose. …If we’re talking about scared, I just think he doesn’t want to take risk, hard fight.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 311.