Merab Dvalishvili made all kinds of headlines this past weekend, but it was teammate Dennis Buzukja who was caught on tape getting physical with a fan.
Buzukja and Dvalishvili were in attendance at UFC 310 in Las Vegas to corner Aljamain Sterling, who lost a unanimous decision to Movsar Evloev on Saturday. As the team walked to the back, an altercation erupted between a fan and Dvalishvili, and Buzukja ended up trading punches with the fan. Dvalishvili later shared a video claiming that the man in question was an associate of Umar Nurmagomedov, who challenges Dvalishvili for the bantamweight title at UFC 311 on Jan. 18.
On Sterlingâs The Weekly Scraps Podcast, Sterling and Buzukja shared their recollection of the incident.
âApparently this guy is a representative of Kazakhstan and friends with some of the [Dagestani] boys and that was very interesting,â Sterling said. âI guess he was provoking Merab on the way in to the arena and then on the way out as well. He put his hand on Merabâs shoulder to get his attention and whatnot, said whatever he said, I donât know. But it seems like he provoked the whole shit to start.â
In the video that first circulated on social media, Dvalishvili is only seen being pulled away by security and itâs unclear what occurred before that. The video Dvalishvili later shared appeared to show the fan grabbing Dvalishviliâs arm first.
According to Buzukja, the fan actually antagonized them during the walkout and then made his way through the crowd to again confront the team as they exited from the octagon.
âI donât know if he had touched Merab as we were walking in, but somehow he got Merabâs attention and then Merab went and tapped his shoulder and just gave him the finger and then the guy gave him the finger back or whatever, he got all jumpy,â Buzukja said.
âThen as the fight finished and weâre walking back on the other side, this f*cking guy comes across the whole crowd and then goes and, youâve seen the video, he grabs Merabâs arm and then says something to him in, I guess Russian or whatever he said, and Merab started going crazy. Then we got into a little physical altercation, but that was really it. So hopefully no charges pressed and we move on.â
That âlittle physical altercationâ involved Buzukja and the fan landing clean punches on one another before security intervened. Itâs not something Buzukja planned, and heâs relieved it didnât escalate beyond that.
âI went and approached him and I just put his hand down, I was trying to deescalate and tell him, âYo, calm down, bro. Relax,ââ Buzukja said. âMerab was going away, I just wanted to tell him to relax, have some respect. Then he cracked me first, actually, he cracked me with a nice little left hook and then it was just instinct to hit him back. Then security came in, but part of me is like, âShould I just drop the bucket and just jump over and start swinging?â Just go full, f*cking degenerate, but Iâm glad it didnât happen that way.â
It is not yet known if any of the fighters involved will receive any reprimand or penalty from the UFC or the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Sterling is a former UFC bantamweight champion currently competing at 145 pounds, while Buzukja is still relatively new to the promotion, having gone 1-3 since debuting in 2023.
The whole incident left Sterling confused. If itâs true that the fan was an associate of Nurmagomedovâs team, Sterling thinks his behavior is at odds with the stoic and respectful code that they supposedly stand for.
âMy thing is, heâs friends with these guys and theyâre so big on respect,â Sterling said. âWhy do you have your guys being assh*les? Like, in America, we say motherf*ckers, right? They donât like when we call them a motherf*cker because itâs like the literal term like you f*cked your mother or whatever. But youâre being a motherf*cker by doing that.
âWhat are you doing? Youâre being a complete assh*le. You reap what you sow. Why are you doing that? I donât know, itâs weird.â
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