This needs to stop.

I'm with the best wrestlers. I'm starting to speak now. We didn't have it! We didn't have it! Usman Nurmagomedov and his friends came like a snake from behind. Never a dull moment in the world of combat sports, eh fight fans? You know, you can't go 10 seconds in this sport without something stupid happening, and stupid has happened. It has happened yet again. I'm sure you already know this, but just in case you don't, Usman Nurmagomedov and company walked up on Marab Dabalashvili while he was filming a promo for Real American Freestyle in Abu Dhabi, the most real American of locations, and slapped the ---- out of him causing a big ol' brouhaha. Remembered Marab and his scrappy little buddy did their best to fend off a bunch of guys, but the brawl ended up leaving the machine in a questionable state for his upcoming wrestling match this weekend at RAF with Marlon Marais. Imagine if the dude actually had a UFC bout scheduled soon. This would have been an even bigger disaster. This is just the latest in a running feud between Marab and the Nurmagomedovs that involves a jacuzzi joke. Same night we fight for the title. It's the best moment. It's gonna be best moment all the time. How about jacuzzi? Jacuzzi. National pride, fellow Georgian Ilya Teporia, and a divisional beef with brother Umar that culminated in Marab handing him his first ever loss last year. If you recall, Umar's second ever loss this summer led to a pretty insane reaction from Usman, who five nights at Freddy's jump-scared the corner cam on his way into the cage, where he almost launched a back elbow at Song Yadong, who was just trying to celebrate knocking out his brother. Gilbert Burns told the story last year about Usman having a 20-minute street fight with an opponent he just beat in the And now we have him running up on Marab for absolutely no reason beyond all the nonsense of this beef they have with each other and straight up slapping the dude. That's assault, brother. So certainly not beating the insane Nurmagomedov allegations is Usman. Dude is an absolute wild card. But... To be fair, let's not pretend that Marab is some saint and had no part in this taking place. Even though the guy is hysterical, he's also pretty violent outside the cage. And beyond all the reasons for their beef I just mentioned, a month ago Marab slapped the ---- out of one of Umar's friends at an RAF event, which was probably another reason this whole thing went down. Now, these types of hotel lobby brawls are almost commonplace at this point in mixed martial arts, but it's pretty rare for any of them to do any substantial damage like we saw on Marab. They also usually happen because Because two parties just happen to bump into each other and start jawing, which leads to hands. Usman appeared to have planned this walk-up on Marab in the lobby with a whole crew of dudes who were filming and ready to throw down as well. A bit different than a mutual dust-up that came about organically. It's also a pretty substantial level of fighter involved. This is a former champion and main event level fighter getting jumped by the brother of one of his opponents, who was also a guy that probably just destroyed any chance of getting signed by the UFC now that his PFL contract is up. Although I'll not be surprised Surprised motherfuckers Nate Diaz style if he gets signed anyway after all of this. Because, I mean, it's not as if the UFC isn't known to cash in on these kinds of beefs. Cousin Khabib practically invented the genre. I can eat in the street fighting. Every day I fight in the street. If you recall, it was his slapping of Conor McGregor's former bestie Artem Lobov that saw McGregor fly off to New York with a plane full of goons to start throwing dollies at buses. If that didn't stop the UFC from promoting a fight with outside-of-the-cage violence, nothing would. 229 was the biggest pay-per-view in UFC history, and it was built on that very attack. And then, of course, afterwards, Habib hopped the fence to get him some Dylan Danis, and another wild brawl ensued. Habib also got into it once with Nate Diaz and company at a PFL event. You know, I'll be honest, the Nurmagomedovs and Associates are not making a great case for not being massive, petty troublemakers. I mean, this has happened a bunch of times now. But look, it's not like their employers are doing anything about it. Who gives a ----? The UFC certainly doesn't discourage it, When this type of thing is rewarded, not punished. To my point about Usman, if he does get signed, what does that say about this kind of behavior? And, you know, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe he won't get signed. But I think it's very, very possible still. And talk about promotions not discouraging this kind of stuff. RAF has really built their entire brand around it. I mean, is anybody surprised this happened in the hotel prior to an RAF show? It's almost guaranteed anytime they have an event. Their whole selling point is essentially come for the brawls and hopefully stay for the wrestling. I've never watched an RAF event myself, but I have seen every single RAF brawl because they get blasted on social media all over the place. And it does sound like the wrestling is great at these events, but it is undeniable that the brand is now associated with these wild brawls, and it doesn't seem like they're in any hurry to stop them from happening beforehand and during the actual dust-ups. I mean, you don't hire Dillon Danis for any reason unless you are hoping that maximum shenanigans take place. RAF isn't dumb. They know what they're doing. Just like hockey Hockey will never stop fights because it's one of their biggest draws. Real American Freestyle MMA names, and many of them are active UFC fighters. And if this ---- keeps escalating, you might see the UFC banning their fighters from doing RAF events, and then the promotion has essentially eaten itself. Without brawls and without stars, RAF is just a freestyle wrestling promotion, and I don't think that's going to put asses in seats. At least not like they're getting right now. Their entire cultural cachet in combat sports is that all these names we know end up fighting each other at their shows. The margins in combat sports are always thin as hell anyway And if RAF doesn't get a hold of this stuff, at least a little bit, they're going to find themselves on some list I write about promotions that didn't make it. It's a fine balance, I get it. What they're doing definitely works, but if it goes too far, it might work them right into a ravine. But there's a larger issue to look at here about the culture of these brawls in combat sports. As much as I said I get it, and as much as I do enjoy watching the videos of these dust-ups when they pop up on my social media feed, what's the logical end point for this stuff? Where does it go from here? I thought this about Khabib and Connor, and now I'm thinking it about Usman and Merab. Does it end with brawls? Or do things escalate? What's the end game here? What's the point? Where is this going? Do you see what I'm trying to say? Right now, you know, we look at these things and we laugh and go, oh, the boys will be boys, and everybody's been in a fight. These things happen, but what we just witnessed with Merab getting jumped and taking some pretty decent damage as a result, what if it goes further than that? It doesn't take much. What if somebody gets knocked out? Just hit right on the button, the perfect spot. What if they hit their head on a hotel lobby floor or on concrete? What if somebody has a weapon? What if somebody takes this to another place? Are these beefs stupid and over-stupid things? Absolutely, it's part of their charm, It doesn't mean that stupid things can't end up escalating well beyond where any of this is really fun anymore. It just takes one element of these brawls going wrong for this to turn into tragedy, not entertainment. And not to mention, this stuff is dangerous for fans and just bystanders. And I don't just mean when... Fighters try to fight fans, which seems to be happening more and more as well, but these big brawls, they spill out into public spaces. It's not impossible that somebody completely innocent could get hurt. A hotel lobby is not an arena. I know I sound like your dad right now, but the truth is that these are assaults. These are crimes. In our... In a civilized world, you can't go around punching people in the face because you don't like what they said or because they beat your brother in a sport. And it's only going to take one of these escalating way beyond what everybody is comfortable and having fun with for the entire sport to suddenly stop what it's doing and say, okay, we have a serious problem here. Now, as for this incident itself, what should happen? Should Usman be banned from the UFC for this? Honestly, I think that's a pretty reasonable response to something like this. Had this happened at a UFC event, I'm almost positive that that would have been the outcome. doubt it will come to a ban because of who he is and who his family is, but the guy walked up on a UFC fighter and jumped him with a whole crew of guys. And Merab needs to be admonished in some way too. Not for this brawl, but for his actions in the lead up to this thing, the guy he slapped at the other RAF event. The UFC tries to stay out of all this stuff that happens outside the cage at these other events, but eventually they're going to need to rein in their fighters. And I bet they will if something bad enough happens or a fighter with a major event coming up has to get Yeah. some stupid brawl at a wrestling event. Look, I do enjoy the drama and the nonsense, but if we're being realistic here, this stuff is getting out of hand. These aren't shoving matches anymore and everybody being held back before something happens. Marab got his ass kicked over some stupid Montagues and Capulets ----. These promotions need to do a better job of reining this ---- in before something really bad happens. But alright, I'm off my soapbox. What do you guys think about this? Is old man Tommy right, or do you love this ----? Sound off in the comments, Let me know what you think. A big thanks to Luke and- And Tom for editing this video together and getting it out so fast to you guys. Go watch them with Alex on the title picture. They're there all week talking about anything going on in combat sports. A huge thanks to our channel members. Appreciate you guys a ton. Fight fans, hit the join button if you want to become one yourself. Like and subscribe because we always got videos like this when something big happens. Leave a comment with all your thoughts. And thanks so much for watching. Be safe out there.