Javier Mendez revealed that Umar Nurmagomedov hid his damaged hand from the group at UFC 311.
Nurmagomedov broke his hand in Spherical 1 of his title combat towards bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili on Saturday at UFC 311 from at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif. After profitable the primary two rounds on two of the three judges’ scorecards, Nurmagomedov was outlasted for a unanimous choice loss.
Mendez was shocked to see Nurmagomedov (18-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) resort to grappling after having success on the toes within the first two rounds. That’s as a result of he had no thought Nurmagomedov broke his hand early on.
“If he had advised me he broke his hand, I might have modified the sport plan,” Mendez advised Submission Radio. “Khabib and I might have modified the sport plan fully round as a result of Khabib is a good nook. He’s one of many nice ones that I’ve encountered cornering with. So, we may have modified the sport plan, however we weren’t advised. Umar didn’t inform us. That simply reveals you the sort of warrior he’s. We’d have modified the plan had he advised us that. Why would we do what we did, having him throw that damaged hand, if we knew he broke his hand? That may be silly.
“I might have had him kick extra. Preserve the space, hold him at a distance, hold kicking as a result of he’s an ideal kicker. However, no, the sport plan was to remain inside and decide him aside, and I used to be questioning what the hell? And he stored placing his head down. He stored placing his head down greater than usually, and I’m like, ‘What the hell?’ I am going, ‘OK, Merab have to be that a lot more durable.’ And yeah, he’s that robust. However I didn’t know that Umar broke his hand. He didn’t inform us.”
Dvalishvili’s head coach, John Wooden, additionally revealed that his fighter was coping with adversity going into the combat. Dvalishvili (19-4 MMA, 12-2 UFC) suffered a number of gashes to his proper leg after colliding with a set of stairs, which required 27 stitches to restore. Wooden mentioned Dvalishvili additionally pinched a nerve in his again within the lead-up to the combat.
For extra on the cardboard, go to MMA Junkie’s occasion hub for UFC 311.
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