Islam Makhachev reacts to Umar Nurmagomedov’s UFC 311 loss against Merab Dvalishvili

Islam Makhachev has shared his reaction to Umar Nurmagomedov’s first career defeat.

Makhachev and Nurmagomedov were both in title fights on the UFC 311 card this past Saturday night. Makhachev successfully defended his UFC Lightweight Championship against Renato Moicano in the main event. Just prior to his walkout, Makhachev witnessed Nurmagomedov drop a unanimous decision to bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili in the co-headliner.

It was a bittersweet night for Makhachev, but he’s confident that things will look up for Nurmagomedov.

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Islam Makhachev Reflects on Umar Nurmagomedov’s Loss at UFC 311

During the UFC 311 post-fight press conference, Mike Bohn asked Islam Makhachev what his emotions were like seeing Umar Nurmagomedov lose just before he was ready to fight in the main event of UFC 311.

“Honestly, it was hard,” Makhachev said. “I tried to warm up, but I still watch him go fight. Of course, make me a little bit sad, but Umar looking good, you know? Umar is still young, still hungry. He have time. Because he still young, he make some mistakes in this fight and Merab did his job very well, and they have close fight. Umar not take some damage, he landed good shots. It’s okay. He broke his arm also. A hundred percent I think he will come back because he young, still hungry and he’s gonna be UFC champion one day for sure.”

It was indeed a high-level bantamweight title fight. In fact, many experts had Nurmagomedov ahead of Dvalishvili after the first two rounds. Dvalishvili’s conditioning proved to be a huge difference-maker, as he was able to thwart the challenger’s takedown attempts while scoring some of his own.

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