Javier Mendez believes Merab Dvalishvili beat Umar Nurmagomedov with gamesmanship.
In January, Dvalishvili successfully defended his title against Nurmagomedov in the co-main event of UFC 311. Though Nurmagomedov was the favorite, Dvalishvili out-worked him over 25 minutes with his signature blend of cardio and pressure, winning with scores of 48-47, 48-47, and 49-46. Following the bout, Nurmagomedov revealed he broke his hand in the first round, saying that affected his ability to perform against Dvalishvili, but his coach Javier Mendez says that wasn’t what really cost him.
“I just said to him, ‘You know what, Umar? I felt, in my opinion, I felt you won three out of the five rounds,” Mendez said on his Javier & Mo podcast. “Maybe I’m being biased but I felt in the fifth round, the reason why you didn’t win is because he showboated his way to winning that. He acted like the victor while you were tired. That’s why I feel he basically took it from you because you let him. But I felt you won.’
“Because you look at damage and this and that, but when it comes to presence, he definitely got that. The actual damage that he did was nothing compared to what Umar did. He did more. But again, [Merab] showed that, ‘I’m the winner, I’m the winner,’ and Umar couldn’t stop him from showing that. I can see how the judges would get swayed on that.”
Statistically, the fight was very close, with Dvalishvili landed just seven more strikes throughout the bout. However, Dvalishvili also landed five more takedowns, albeit on twice the number of takedown attempts. Nevertheless, Dvalishvili took home the decision and he is now set to rematch Sean O’Malley in the main event of UFC 316 in June. Nurmagomedov, meanwhile, is rumored to have a fight with Petr Yan in the works, though nothing is official yet.
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