Umar Nurmagomedov's head coach, Javier Mendez, isn't too happy with his fighter after UFC 311.
The undefeated Russian entered his UFC 311 title fight against Merab Dvalishvili as the favorite to leave the Intuit Dome as bantamweight champion.
Despite this, 'The Machine' Dvalishvili showed his championship credentials and showed a side of Umar Nurmagomedov's game, retaining his title after a whopping five rounds of action.
READ MORE: 'Easier than expected'… Merab Dvalishvili's coach shares his assessment of UFC 311 fight with Umar Nurmagomedov
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Javier Mendez admits he knew nothing about Nurmagomedov's broken hand
Despite losing the fight by unanimous decision, Nurmagomedov won the first two rounds on the judges' scorecards, but unfortunately suffered a broken hand in the opening round.
However, now, just days away from the event, Nurmagomeedov's head coach Javier Mendez has revealed that the 29-year-old only told his corner team about his broken hand after the fight.
“If he had told me he broke his hand, I would have changed the game plan,” Mendez told Submission Radio.
“Khabib (Nurmagomedov) and I would have completely changed the game plan because Khabib is a great cornerman. He's one of the great people I've come across turns with.
“So we could have changed the game plan, but we weren't told. Umar didn't tell us. That shows what kind of warrior he is. If he had told us that, we would have changed the plan. Why would we do what we did, make him throw that broken hand, if we knew he had broken his hand? That would be stupid,” he continued.
Nurmagomedov tried to show off his Dagestani wrestling during the fight, but was only able to land two of his fifteen attempts.
“I would have liked him to kick more. Keep your distance, keep him at bay, keep kicking because he's a great kicker. But no, the plan was to stay in and take it apart, and I was like, “What the hell?” And he kept bowing his head down… But I didn't know that Umar broke his hand, he didn't tell us,” Mendez stated.
Merab Dvalishvili thinks Umar Nurmagemedov will challenge for the title again
With his win over Umar, Merab cemented himself as one of the greatest bantamweights of all time and he earned that compliment from former champion Henry Cejudo.
Despite believing Nurmagomedov will be 'humbled' by the loss, Dvalishvili has admitted he thinks the 29-year-old will fight for the title again.
If he does, it will take a while as he tries to lick his wounds and rise back up the rankings at 135 pounds.
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