The manager of Usman Nurmagomedov has apologized for his client’s role in a brawl with Merab Dvalishvili on Wednesday.
Nurmagomedov and his team attacked UFC fighter Merab Dvalishvili and his friend at an Abu Dhabi hotel ahead of this weekend’s RAF card. The attackers were arrested and are currently being held by officials as they await the outcome of potential legal proceedings.
Now, Nurmagomedov’s manager is coming out to apologize for the ugly incident.
Ali Abdelaziz Apologizes for Usman Nurmagomedov Incident
Speaking to MMAjunkie.com, Nurmagomedov’s manager Ali Abdelaziz said he was sorry for what happened.
“I’m truly sorry. It’s embarrassing what happened. I hope these young men will get a good lesson. This is something that should not happen again. All of our guys have to set a good example. … I haven’t slept for a couple days trying to make it better. I don’t think there’s any words I can say to make this better. To the people of Abu Dhabi, to the leadership, this is something that will never happen again. “We should do better as Muslims, as human beings, as athletes. … What happened was something unacceptable and should never happen again,” Abdelaziz said.
There have been suggestions that Dvalishvili deserved what happened to him for things that he previously said about Team Nurmagomedov.
But according to Abdelaziz, none of that is relevant, and he is just sorry for what Nurmagomedov and his group did to Dvalishvili.
“Two wrongs doesn’t make a right. I’m not going to sit here and say he did that or he didn’t do that. These guys are young, and there’s no words I can describe to say he was wrong. I think both parties were wrong, and two wrongs don’t make a right, and it’s a good lesson for everyone. Merab was there a couple weeks ago. He was fine and trained at Khabib’s gym. I think we have to do better as humans. We have to learn from this mistake. I’m not going to point fingers. It was extremely disrespectful to the people of Abu Dhabi, to the city of Abu Dhabi. We have to be better and conduct ourselves better. This situation could’ve been handled different but I understand these athletes are emotional. But there’s no excuse. There’s no excuse. There’s nothing I can say to make the wrong situation better.”
Manager Says Incident Affects the Entire Team Nurmagomedov
In Abdelaziz’s opinion, this entire incident affects not just Usman Nurmagomedov, but also his cousin Khabib Nurmagomedov and everyone else on his team.
“About Usman’s career: The guy is one of the best fighters in the world. Of course this is going to affect everybody. It’s going to affect him, Khabib, everybody. But I’m not worried about his fighting career right now. I’m worried about his well-being and how he’s going to recover from this,” Abdelaziz said.
As for a potential UFC contract, we will have to see what happens, but this incident feels unlikely to affect Nurmagomedov getting a contract with the UFC.
Usman Nurmagomedov’s Manager Apologizes for Abu Dhabi Brawl