UFC bantamweight contender Umar Nurmagomedov issued his first social media remarks since his first career setback in the cage at UFC 311.
Umar Nurmagomedov‘s bid to become the latest Team Khabib UFC champion fell short against Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 311. Despite a fast start to the fight, Nurmagomedov’s conditioning faded in the later rounds, as Dvalishvili grinded his way to a unanimous decision win on the judges’ scorecards.
Umar Nurmagomedov, who was previously unbeaten through his first 18 professional fights, revealed a hand injury he suffered just minutes into the fight. Despite the injury, he still made it the full distance and made it a highly competitive early ‘Fight of the Year’ contender against Dvalishvili.
For the first time in his career, Nurmagomedov will look to bounce back from adversity later this inside the Octagon. After a brief post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, Nurmagomedov expanded on his initial takeaways on how UFC 311 transpired.
Umar Nurmagomedov remains adamant he deserved to win at UFC 311
Nurmagomedov addressed his supporters in a recent Instagram post.
“No excuses, InshaAllah I will become a champion,” Nurmagomedov posted. “The rest is not important. Praise be to Allah in any situation.
“And I do not think that I lost this fight. Even if the whole world tries to convince me otherwise.
“I will deal with my injuries and get back in action InshaAllah.”
Nurmagomedov fought in just his second career five-rounder at UFC 311. Before the loss to Dvalishvili, Nurmagomedov defeated former interim title challenger Cory Sandhagen at UFC Abu Dhabi last August.
Nurmagomedov earned wins over Bekzat Almakhan, Raoni Barcelos, and Nate Maness leading up to his recent fights against Dvalishvili and Sandhagen. It was a steep climb in competition after having a hard time finding opponents earlier in his UFC tenure.
Umar Nurmagomedov looks ahead to redemption after UFC 311
Luckily, Umar is teammates with Islam Makhachev, who managed to bounce back from his first-career defeat at UFC 192 en route to becoming the most decorated lightweight in UFC history. Makhachev defeated Renato Moicano in the UFC 311 main event to break a four-way tie for the most UFC lightweight title defenses (5).
Leading up to UFC 311, Nurmagomedov was a significant betting favorite over Dvalishvili, despite competing in his first UFC title fight. But Nurmagomedov wasn’t the only big favorite to suffer their first career loss on the UFC’s first pay-per-view of the year.
As Nurmagomedov plots his eventual return to the cage, he’ll look to recover from his hand injury and return to title contention. Despite the loss at UFC 311, his stock as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in MMA is still high.