Revealed: Shocking attack on UFC star in luxury Abu Dhabi hotel was revenge mission four months in the making – here’s why brotherhood of ruthless Dagestani fighters were out for blood

Offend one Dagestani and you offend them all. No region on earth has a higher concentration of lethal fighters than the North Caucasus of Russia on the edge of the Caspian sea. 

They regard themselves as a brotherhood and UFC star Merab Dvalishvili’s brutalised face from Wednesday’s extraordinary hotel brawl was the result of a revenge mission four months in the making.

Of those highly-trained Russian killers, the Nurmagomedov name inspires the most reverence and pride, with retired Khabib – who famously destroyed Conor McGregor in the UFC’s biggest ever fight – receiving almost a mythical status. 

It was his 28-year-old cousin Usman, trained by Khabib’s venerated late father, who initiated the violent 10-man melee in the lobby of Yas Hilton in Abu Dhabi, a plush five-star beachfront hotel. Everyone involved has been arrested.

Usman, 28, is a free agent and had been hoping to sign with the UFC – so why did he  jeopardise his own future by slapping one of their biggest stars? 

The Georgian-American Dvalishvili has a pre-existing rivalry with Usman’s older brother, Umar, having beaten him for the bantamweight title last January, calling him a ‘brat’ and ‘spoiled’, suggesting the only reason for his title challenge was the connection to Khabib, who retired a national hero with a 29-0 record. 

WARNING – Graphic content 

But that defeat and those tame jibes weren’t the primary cause of the hotel retaliation.

Back in July, Dvalishvili was competing in a RAF event in Georgia, which is a freestyle wrestling show the UFC allow their fighters to compete in outside of the day job. 

While milling around at the event, a Dagestani wrestler and friend of Umar, Ahmed Gadzhimagomedov, confronted Dvalishvili about refusing to entertain a rematch of any kind with Umar. 

‘I was super relaxed, super chilled and then somebody (Gadzhimagomedov) came and grabbed my neck and pulled me over and started yelling at me in Russian language, which I hardly understand,’ Dvalishvili told Ariel Helwani. 

‘And he mentioned Umar. It took me a couple of seconds to realize, “Who is this guy to tell me what to talk about him?” 

‘It’s between me and Umar… I have so much respect for all Dagestani people, especially fighters. The only guy who I don’t like from Dagestan is Umar and his sneaky manager, Rizvan. The guy who was helping Umar disrespect me on X and Threads.’

After Gadzhimagomedov squared up to him, Dvalishvili shoved him in the neck, shouting: ‘What’s your problem, b***h!’

The situation, unlike the hotel brawl that escalated into a complete bloodbath, was quickly diffused and there was a child in close proximity. 

Islam Makhachev, another high-profile Dagestani fighter and current UFC welterweight champion, all-but confirmed that the row in Georgia was behind the gang of his countrymen attacking Dvalishvili. 

He wrote on his Instagram story: ‘To those who are now condemning Usman and the guys, writing insults to them, why were you silent when Mirab hit the Dagestan wrestler for nothing and insulted him? 

‘A man approached to talk to him without any evil intention. What happened today, Merab started in his homeland, allowing himself to hit a guest and hitting his mother.’

Interestingly, Dvalishvili is due to fight on Saturday and if his injuries now rule him out of that, it could have more severe legal implications for Usman. 

According to Abu Dhabi law, an assault that leads to ‘incapacity from personal work for a period exceeding twenty days’ fits into the upper tier of potential punishments – which can be more than a year in prison. Even the lower end of severity is up to a year in prison and a fine. 

At this point, there are no official charges for Usman and his group of attackers but the infamously strict Abu Dhabi authorities may want to make an example of them after such shocking footage of the attack went viral. 

In the footage, the group appeared to approach Dvalishvili, 35, from behind, before one man said a couple of words to him and punched him in the face.

Dvalishvili was rocked, then kicked, and was held back by a man he appeared to be with.

He tried to fight back but a number of men overwhelmed him as his companion was attacked too. Eventually, the groups were separated, and Dvalishvili took to social media to respond to the incident.

He said in a video, bloody and bruised as he received treatment: ‘What a sneaky way guys. Just two of us, me and my friend, came here in Abu Dhabi and Usman and his friends came like snakes from behind. What kind of fighters are you guys? What kind of man does this? If you want to fight, let’s do it the real way.

‘You guys came when there was two of us, you were prepared. What the f***.’

His companion then added: ‘From behind? You call yourselves men? You’re a little b***h.’

Dvalishvili continued: ‘You are sneaky guys. You are not real men. It shows your guys’ character, what the f*** guys? If you want to fight, let’s fight. We are fighters. I talk straight, but you guys came from behind. I don’t know how many guys, all your friends waiting for us in a sneaky way, wow.

‘I knew guys, I knew what kind of guys you were. Usman, Umar and his friends came sneaky from behind, so many guys. Wow. I am fine guys. All my friends and family, I am f***ing fine. I am a fighter. This is nothing for me, but it shows what kind of people you guys are. P***ys do this bro. We are warriors.’

Dvalishvili said in a separate post on social media: ‘So funny, my young friend, he is only 21 years old, a wrestler from Georgia. He was with me and he fought both brothers, Usman and Umar, and he only has this face, nothing else. He said I’m moving to MMA, if they can do only this to me, two guys…

‘Oh my God bro, security was holding me, and they were kicking and punching us, and what the heck. Life is good, guys, everything is good.’

There’s a couple of weight divisions difference between Usman (lightweight) and Dvalishvili (bantamweight). 

If the UFC were to conveniently overlook the kind of behaviour they’d condemn from their own fighters and sign the free agent, a fight to settle the score would be a guaranteed money-maker. 

For now the more serious contest for Usman will be with the Abu Dhabi authorities.