UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili has been involved in several altercations with fans in recent times. The latest instance came this past weekend at UFC 310 where a video showed him being separated away from a member of the crowd when he was walking to the back with his teammate, Aljamain Sterling.
Dvalishvili has since shared a video on social media which suggests that the fan was a friend of Umar Nurmagomedov, who he will face at UFC 311 in his first title defense. This additional footage shows how the person grabbed him which kicked off the series of events that led to UFC fighter Dennis Buzukja trading punches with the man.
Buzukja later explained that the fan had also been trying to antagonize the 135-pound titleholder on their way to the Octagon for Sterling's contest against Movsar Evloev. One former member of the roster is able to specifically relate to this kind of situation given his own interactions with fans in the past.
During the walk out for his fight against Demian Maia in Brazil back in 2016, Matt Brown was grabbed and hit by several people in the audience which led to him hitting back.
In a recent episode of MMA Fighting's Fighter vs. Writer, Brown reflected on this experience and stood by Dvalishvili for his response to being provoked.
I still say these fans, keep to your f*cking self, bro. You don’t f*ck with professional fighters. Most of us are martial artists that are respectful and stuff, but we’re also human beings and we’ll rip your f*cking throat out. Don’t f*ck with us. It’s stupid.
“You can’t grab a professional. Someone touches me, I’m f*cking them up.
Brown also said that in the aftermath of his incident in Brazil, he wasn't penalized for the altercation and the UFC looked to make changes to stop this kind of thing from happening.
I remember Dana [White] changed things after that,” Brown said. “I don’t know what exactly the changes were but basically talking about separating the fans a little bit more, particularly in Brazil, maybe having a little bit better security when guys are walking out. I was right there in touching range, and they were hitting me and pulling my hat off.
“I’m not just going to sit here and take this, plus I’m completely fired up ready to walk into a fight. You get hit, it’s a natural reaction — you hit someone back.