Burns, Costa and Jouban react to Dvalishvili's Abu Dhabi allegation

Gilbert Burns, Paulo Costa and Alan Jouban have joined the online response to Merab Dvalishvili's allegation that he was attacked in an Abu Dhabi hotel ahead of a RAF event. Their posts offer three different reactions to the incident, from criticism of fighters' conduct outside competition to attention on Dvalishvili's companion.

Burns focused on the example professional athletes should set. In a November 11 post on X, he expressed disappointment and wrote that athletes should be the example rather than the opposite. His brief response addressed conduct rather than making a new factual claim about what happened.

Costa's November 11 response criticized the idea of a group confronting one or two people. His comments were an expression of disapproval, not a separate account establishing who did what during the incident.

Jouban took a different angle. He jokingly appealed to UFC boss Dana White to sign Dvalishvili's friend after the scuffle. That was Jouban's reaction, not an announcement of a contract or an approach by the promotion.

The posts were also collected by MMA Fighting in its November 12 reactions roundup. These social-media comments should be distinguished from independent verification of the underlying allegation. Dvalishvili's account remains attributed to him; the reactions themselves do not establish a legal finding.

Sources: Gilbert Burns on X, Paulo Costa on X, Alan Jouban on X (November 11), and MMA Fighting’s November 12 roundup.

Archive photo: Gilbert Burns at an interview before UFC 273, April 2022, not the Abu Dhabi incident. MMAnytt, via Wikimedia Commons; CC BY 3.0.