Merab Dvalishvili and Saba Lazishvili are out of detention in Abu Dhabi, and both are headed for the RAF Abu Dhabi card.
“Merab and Saba are free,” Ariel Helwani wrote on X Friday, posting video of the two Georgians being met by RAF officials and fellow Georgian Giga Chikadze after their release. A clip of the pair walking out also made the rounds on r/MMA within minutes.
MMA Fighting reported that Dvalishvili is still competing at the event and that Lazishvili has been added to the card. That came after RAF put out an earlier update on Dvalishvili’s status following the hotel brawl with Usman Nurmagomedov.
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Dvalishvili, for his part, came out of a UAE detention center doing comedy. Helwani posted a second video of him joking that he used a plastic bag for shoelaces and lost his belt while he was locked up. The belt in question holds up pants, for the record.
How we got here
The whole thing went public on Wednesday, Nov. 11, when Ilia Topuria posted footage of Nurmagomedov jumping Dvalishvili. The full video spread across X fast, and Championship Rounds called it insane, which was underselling it.
Topuria followed up later that day. He wrote that Nurmagomedov had reportedly been detained “along with the cowards who were with him,” and he didn’t stop there.
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“Honor, respect, and humility aren’t words you preach. They’re values you live by. And you’ve shown none of them,” Topuria wrote.
Sean Strickland also weighed in on X with a post that went after Nurmagomedov in language we’re not reprinting.
Then on Friday came the hammer. ACD MMA, citing The National, reported that Nurmagomedov has been sentenced to six months in prison in Abu Dhabi for attacking Dvalishvili. The same report said all five other members of Team Nurmagomedov got the same sentence, each was fined Dh300,000, and all of them will be deported after serving their time.
The sources available so far don’t lay out why Dvalishvili and Lazishvili were held, or for how long. What they show is the two of them walking out a few hours after that sentencing report hit, shaking hands with the promotion that still wants them on the card.
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What’s next
Both men are now booked for RAF Abu Dhabi. Opponents and bout order weren’t in the reporting as of Friday afternoon, and RAF hasn’t been quoted directly on either fight.
My take: this is about as wild a fight week as you’ll see. One side is facing six months and a deportation order, per The National. The other side spent time in a detention center, came out cracking jokes about plastic-bag shoelaces, and RAF’s answer was to add the second guy to the card. I respect the matchmaking instinct there. I respect Dvalishvili more. Most fighters would be on the first flight out of the UAE. He’s staying to fight in the same city where he got jumped.
