Umar Nurmagomedov suffered a broken hand early into his UFC title tilt with Merab Davalishvili.
In a recent post on X, Nurmagomedov’s manager Ali Abdelaziz revealed that the previously undefeated bantamweight contender sustained a rather nasty injury in the opening round of Saturday’s co-main event with ‘The Machine’ in Los Angeles.
Immediately following the fight, Nurmagomedov alluded to the possibility that he may have broken his hand during the clash, but Abdelaziz later confirmed the injury on social media.
“[Umar] broke his hands first round no excuse no excuse Alhamdulillah for everything,” Abdelaziz posted alongside and image of Nurmagomedov’s swollen hand.
Despite the injury, Nurmagomedov won the first two rounds on two of the three judges’ scorecards, but it all began to slip away in the championship rounds after Dvalishvili’s speedy pace overtook the fight and secured his first successful defense of the 135-pound crown.
Umar Nurmagomedov wasn’t the only undefeated fighter to lose their ‘o’ at UFC 311
It wasn’t a great night for fighters looking to keep their undefeated records intact.
In addition to Umar Nurmagomedov suffering his first loss after starting his career 18-0, Clayton Carpenter, Rinya Nakamura, and Payton Talbott all surrendered their unbeaten records.
It was a particularly hard pill to swallow for Talbott who was a massive -1200 favorite to come out on top against Raoni Barcelos in the evening’s featured preliminary bout.
The loss dropped Talbott to 9-1. Nakamura was also handed his first loss against Muin Gafurov after winning nine in a row while Carpenter fell to 8-1 overall following his unanimous decision defeat at the hands of Tagir Ulanbekov.
