Mike Davis apologized to Nurullo Aliev after blasting his opponent following their UFC Abu Dhabi fight.
Davis lost a unanimous decision to Aliev on Saturday, then criticized the grappling-heavy bout and called for Aliev to be released. By Sunday, Davis had changed tone and addressed Aliev directly in a public post.
“@NurulloAliev, hopefully you see this. I understand you were being a nice guy in the end- Amazing sportsmanship,” Davis wrote in the visible portion of the post. “In the heat of the moment, I was/am severely disappointed in myself.”
@NurulloAliev, hopefully you see this. I understand you were being a nice guy in the end- Amazing sportsmanship.
In the heat of the moment, I was/am severely disappointed in myself. In what I went through to help the @ufc by flying out here, while sick and injured. Disappointed…
— Mike “Beast Boy” Davis (@MikeDavisMMA) July 25, 2026
Mike Davis is NOT HAPPY after his unanimous decision loss to Nurullo Aliev at UFC Abu Dhabi
“I thought we were cutting wrestlers? All they do is suck d**k for 15 minutes. This isn’t RAF, that is gay bro. Gay people in the UFC bro get them the f**k outta here” 😬 pic.twitter.com/JTAIrQYYDz
— FULL SEND MMA (@full_send_mma) July 25, 2026
Davis Walked Back The Outburst
The apology matters because Davis’ original reaction became one of the louder talking points coming out of the Abu Dhabi card. The fight itself was not close enough on the scorecards to create a result controversy, but Davis’ comments turned the aftermath into a second story.
Aliev left the event unbeaten at 12-0 and remained perfect in the UFC. Davis, meanwhile, fell to 1-2 across his past three appearances after previously building a four-fight winning streak.
The lightweight division has no shortage of sharp post-fight reactions, but this one moved quickly from frustration to public cleanup. Davis did not pretend the words were never said; he framed the apology around disappointment in himself and Aliev’s sportsmanship.
UFC Abu Dhabi has already produced several talking points, including Ramazan Temirov’s knockout of Steve Erceg, Magomed Ankalaev’s stoppage win over Bogdan Guskov, and Ankalaev’s callout of Paulo Costa. Davis’ apology now gives the card another piece of fallout, this time away from the cage.
