The coach of Merab Dvalishvili expected the UFC bantamweight champion to face more adversity when sharing the Octagon with Umar Nurmagomedov.
The pair collided in the co-main event of this past weekend's UFC 311 pay-per-view, which marked the MMA leader's very first numbered event of 2025.
Their co-headliner went the distance and collected Fight of the Night honors, with defending champ Dvalishvili ultimately emerging with his hand raised and the 135-pound gold still in his possession.
While the Dagestani challenger enjoyed a strong start inside Inglewood's Intuit Dome, the Georgian's renowned pace and cardio ultimately proved to be the difference across the final three rounds.
Though he'd have no doubt expected that to be the case, one of the champ's coaches admitted the victory over Nurmagomedov on Jan. 18 came more comfortably than he had foreseen during a recent appearance on Submission Radio.
No, (nothing surprised us), not at all," Syndicate MMA's John Wood said. "He did what I thought he would do, and maybe he broke his hand in the first round, maybe he didn’t, who knows. I don’t think a broken hand affects your cardio from the last I checked. I don’t think your hand and your lungs are connected, so I don’t think that played into anything. And who cares? It’s a fight, that’s what happens.
If anything, the only thing I’d say is it was maybe easier than expected," Wood continued. "That’s not being disrespectful (to Nurmagomedov), it’s how good Merab is, and I really want people to start noticing that.
Nurmagomedov evidently sees things differently.
After initially questioning the judges' scorecards during his Octagon interview, the previously undefeated Russian doubled down on that take in his latest remarks.
He'll now look to work his way back to a second championship opportunity and the chance to achieve redemption against "The Machine."