Usman Nurmagomedov punished by RAF after ugly Merab Dvalishvili incident filmed and posted online

Usman Nurmagomedov has been reprimanded for his shocking attack on Merab Dvalishvili in Abu Dhabi which left the UFC star and his friend bloodied.

On Wednesday night, shocking footage shared by former UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria showed Nurmagomedov and his crew setting upon Dvalishvili in an Abu Dhabi hotel lobby.

While the Georgian was filming an interview for the upcoming RAF event for which he is participating in, Nurmagomedov slapped Dvalishvili and all hell broke loose.

Heavily outnumbered, Dvalishvili and his friend were left bloodied and bruised after the attack. While receiving treatment for his injuries, Dvalishvili sent a video to his fans.

READ NEXT: Islam Makhachev goes rogue and details exactly why Usman Nurmagomedov jumped Merab Dvalishvili

Topuria followed up on X by claiming that Usman was detained following the incident, before Ariel Helwani reported that all of those involved were in police custody.

However, the latest update has arrived courtesy of MMA Fighting, who say that Usman Nurmagomedov is banned from attending Saturday's RAF event.

Dvalishvili is competing in a freestyle wrestling contest against Marlon Moraes, while Nurmagomedov's brother Umar - a former opponent of Dvalishvili's - is scheduled to be in action against Urijah Faber.

RAF are yet to officially commented on the incident.

Addressing the brawl for the first time, Dvalishvili said on Instagram: "Was doing an interview for RAF in hotel lobby and Usman and his buddies came up from behind and started punching me and my young friend. Security was holding me - They kept kicking us when we were down like losers."

Topuria blasted the antics, taking to X and writing: "I always thought you were a bunch of mediocre individuals. Now you’ve removed every last doubt.

"Honor, respect, and humility aren’t words you preach. They’re values you live by. And you’ve shown none of them."

There were also calls for Usman to be banned from UFC, with UFC content creator Nina Drama stating that "those cowards must pay for what they did" for the "pre-meditated attack".

However, current UFC welterweight champion Islam Makhachev leapt the defence of his fellow Dagestani as he claimed the animosity can be traced back to an incident where Merab slapped Akhmed Gadzhimagomedov at RAF Georgia in July.

On Instagram stories, he wrote: “To those who are now condemning Usman and the guys, [and] they are writing insults to them, why were you silent when Merab hit a Dagestani wrestler for nothing and hurt his honour. The man approached him to talk without malice.

“Merab started what happened today in his homeland by allowing himself to hit a guest and insult his mother.”