Merab Dvalishvili is out of custody in Abu Dhabi, fined Dh50,000 and ready to wrestle tonight.
“I have been released and I am good,healthy and ready to go”
"Just want to let everyone know I have been released and I am good,healthy and ready to go. I want to thank everyone in Abu Dhabi for your help in resolving this matter. I love visiting Abu Dhabi and am happy to be welcomed. I do hope that they release everyone – i would not press charges. I want peace and the best for all. Thanks everyone for your love and support," Dvalishvili wrote in a post on X on Friday.
The former UFC bantamweight champion was released on Friday morning after around 48 hours in custody, following the hotel-lobby brawl with Usman Nurmagomedov on Wednesday at the Yas Hilton in Abu Dhabi.
An Abu Dhabi court convicted all 10 men involved in the brawl on Friday morning. Six of them — Nurmagomedov and five members of his team — were each sentenced to six months in prison, fined Dh300,000 and ordered to be deported after serving their sentences, for disturbing public security, causing panic and endangering lives. Two other men who filmed and published footage of the brawl received the same six-month sentence, fine and deportation order, and the court ordered their phones confiscated and the footage deleted. Dvalishvili and his friend Saba Lazishvili were fined Dh50,000 each, with no prison sentence, and both were released on Friday morning.
The court did not name the defendants. Nurmagomedov is placed among the six jailed men by the reporting of the case and the video evidence; the five other team members and the two men who filmed the brawl have not been named.
For Dvalishvili, the verdict changes nothing about tonight. Real American Freestyle confirmed on Friday that his wrestling match with Marlon Moraes goes ahead as planned tonight at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. RAF chief executive Chad Bronstein said: "I'm pleased to share that Merab Dvalishvili is back with us in Abu Dhabi. We would like to express our sincere appreciation to the relevant authorities in Abu Dhabi for their professionalism and support. We remain focused on moving forward and are pleased to have Merab back with us."
Lazishvili will also compete on the card. He replaces Umar Nurmagomedov against Urijah Faber, a change RAF confirmed through an official graphic on Friday. RAF gave no reason for Umar's removal, and the promotion has not said whether he was involved in the brawl.
The brawl broke out on Wednesday in the lobby of the Yas Hilton, where Dvalishvili was being interviewed for Real American Freestyle. Nurmagomedov approached him from behind with a group and slapped him, and a melee followed. Police said 10 people were arrested over the incident.
Dana White, speaking at the UFC 334 press conference in New York on Thursday, called the men involved "a bunch of f*ing idiots" and said: "It's absolutely ridiculous and stupid, and they're all in jail. That [Abu Dhabi] is not a place to go and f* around." White also said Nurmagomedov is "still under contract" and that the UFC is "not talking to him right now anyway."
Nurmagomedov's manager Ali Abdelaziz apologised to Abu Dhabi on his client's behalf, saying: "What happened was something unacceptable, and this is something that should never happen again... I think both parties were wrong, and I think two wrongs don't make a right."
Abdelaziz said on November 11 that Nurmagomedov remains in an exclusive negotiating period with the PFL and cannot negotiate with another promotion — but reporting from October 29 (MMA Junkie, Bloody Elbow) and November 13 (talkSPORT) says the 90-day window has run out and Nurmagomedov is now a free agent. Nurmagomedov, 28 and unbeaten at 22-0, completed his PFL fight contract in July.
Not everyone in the sport is condemning Nurmagomedov. Welterweight champion Islam Makhachev defended his longtime teammate, pointing back to Dvalishvili slapping Dagestani wrestler Akhmed Gadzhimagomedov during a Real American Freestyle event in Georgia earlier this year. Dvalishvili's side has said Gadzhimagomedov grabbed him by the neck first.
Nurmagomedov will not be at the RAF event tonight: he is serving a six-month prison sentence in Abu Dhabi and faces deportation when it ends. UFC 334 takes place the same night at Madison Square Garden in New York, headlined by Ciryl Gane vs Josh Hokit for the heavyweight title.
