It will be at least a good few months until we see Umar Nurmagomedov step back inside the Octagon following UFC 311 this past weekend. The bantamweight title challenger may have suffered the first loss of his career in the co-main event but there were a lot of positives for him take from this fight.
For a start, his highly anticipated clash with Merab Dvalishvili ended up producing one of the best title fights in some time, earning both men a fight of the night bonus at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. Nurmagomedov also won the first two rounds on two of the scorecards with the relentless cardio of the defending champion seeing him take over from this point on as the tide began to turn in his favor.
What makes the challenger's display even more impressive is that immediately after the bout in his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, the 29-year old said that he believed he had broken his hand in the first round. Dvalishvili also came into the fight in less than ideal condition but you wouldn't have been able to tell from either of their performances and that's a huge credit to both of them.
Following the confirmation of Nurmagomedov's hand injury, his manager has since posted a timeframe for his return as the cousin of Khabib Nurmagomedov looks to get back in the mix. Ali Abdelaziz posted the following message on X to state that after taking some time off to recover, his fighter will be ready to go again in several months time.
Given that Nurmagomedov is yet to face many of the top contenders at 135-pounds, as Dvalishvili remarked throughout the build up to January 18, there are a lot of exciting options for him even after suffering a defeat.
"@UNmgdv getting a surgery tomorrow on his hand, he will be back in the cage mid or late summer"
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