Javier Mendez thinks Merab Dvalishvili’s antics swayed the judges in his favor against Umar Nurmagomedov.
After winning the first two rounds on two of the three judges’ scorecards, Nurmagomedov was outlasted in a unanimous decision loss to bantamweight champion Dvalishvili (19-4 MMA, 12-2 UFC) in the UFC 311 co-main event in January.
Although Nurmagomedov (18-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) broke his hand in Round 1 of the fight, his head coach Mendez points to a different reason why he lost.
“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 when 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, (Dvalishvili) did show 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.”
Nurmagomedov is yet to be booked for another fight. Meanwhile, Dvalishvili will run things back with Sean O’Malley in the UFC 316 main event June 7 at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 316.
