Merab Dvalishvili will upset Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311

Din Thomas doesn’t see Umar Nurmagomedov being the one to dethrone UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili.

Dvalishvili (18-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC) defends his bantamweight title towards Nurmagomedov (18-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 311 (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPNews/Disney+, ESPN+) co-main occasion at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif.

Though Thomas doesn’t see Dvalishvili holding onto the title for too lengthy, he sees him handing Nurmagomedov his first loss.

“I feel Merab wins towards Umar,” Thomas advised MMA Junkie. “I feel Merab beats Umar. I simply assume that someplace in that division, it catches as much as him. I’m undecided Umar’s the man although, and it’s not as a result of I don’t assume Umar is sweet sufficient. I simply assume that preventing comes right down to moments and having the ability to take care of the strain. Umar has lots of weight to hold. The title, there’s so much occurring.

“After which for him to go on the market and struggle a man like Merab. If it was anyone else, I’d choose Umar, however a man like Merab, who has constructed a profession on discovering these small, little holes in fighters. He finds these small, little holes and simply exposes them simply along with his strain, and his comfortability contained in the cage. I feel Umar has to be careful for that. I feel Merab finds these little moments and breaks him.”

Nurmagomedov, 29, who’s a sizeable favourite going into the struggle, is oozing confidence. In a current interview with MMA Junkie, Nurmagomedov stated he doesn’t see himself dropping to Dvalishvili.

“In a struggle, something can occur,” Nurmagomedov advised MMA Junkie. “I can’t let you know, ‘This isn’t going to occur, by no means, ever.’ However this man is not going to beat me. By no means, ever. I can let you know this one. I don’t learn about takedowns or one thing else, however he can be by no means beat me. He don’t have abilities to beat me.”

Thomas likes the boldness, however is anxious it could finish as much as his detriment if the struggle isn’t going his means.

“That’s the issue,” Thomas stated. “You bought to have that degree of confidence and when you’ve that degree of confidence and everybody believing that about you – ability for ability, he’s so much higher than Merab. …He’s in all probability higher than Merab all over the place. For positive, and on paper, he ought to win as a result of he’s higher all over the place, but it surely’s these issues you possibly can’t actually place worth on, issues you possibly can’t actually measure, and that’s the degree of depth that Merab brings to sort of even you out.

“These are the issues that I strive to concentrate to with fighters, and the extra confidence Umar has, when Merab retains coming, and he’s like, ‘Rattling, I assumed this was going to be over,’ and also you begin to break, that’s when it actually exposes itself. I simply really feel like he’s acquired all that confidence and when he realizes that Merab shouldn’t be going to cease, and he’s like, ‘I’m higher, however this man is not going to cease,’ you begin to lose confidence, you begin to break, and I can see that occuring on this struggle.”

For extra on the cardboard, go to MMA Junkie’s occasion hub for UFC 311.