Recently, former UFC Champion Merab Dvalishvili was attacked by a group headed by fellow MMA fighter Usman Nurmagomedov in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The attack reminded fans of the past bus incident between Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov.
A few years ago, ahead of their UFC 229 fight, McGregor and Nurmagomedov got into one of the most memorable MMA feuds of all time. Both the fighters got very personal with each other and shared shots outside of the octagon.
Dvalishvili is in Abu Dhabi ahead of this Saturday's RAF event and later uploaded a video of his bloodied face on social media and explained the incident. Multiple videos of the incident started going viral on social media, which showed Nurmagomedov ambushing Dvalishvili. The Georgian fighter has a long history with the Nurmagomedov family and had once defeated Umar in 2025.
In his usual Conor manners, McGregor joined in and started having fun. McGregor responded to the hotel lobby fight in Abu Dhabi by sharing a photoshopped picture on Instagram that humorously mocked Ilia Topuria and alluded to McGregor's notorious 2018 bus assault on Khabib Nurmagomedov's team.
The Ilia Topuria involvement in McGregor's meme is not incidental and was done purposely, after Topuria shared his thoughts on the ambush. “Usman has reportedly been detained, along with the cowards who were with him.
“And these are the same people who dare to preach about humility and respect? What a disgrace. A bunch of absolute cowards. 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,” Topuria earlier wrote while responding to the viral video.
Article Continues BelowAs of now, neither the UFC nor RAF have officially commented on the incident.

