Khabib Nurmagomedov was visibly upset when Bruce Buffer announced that Merab Dvalishvili was still the bantamweight champion. You see, the Eagle wanted to be the one to put the bantamweight belt on Umar Nurmagomedov’s waist. UFC 311 didn’t just show the world that Dvalishvili could outwrestle a Dagestani, but he showed that he could do so for 5 whole rounds. However, as the bout came to an end, a major revelation struck the fighting realm. It was indeed Young Eagle’s broken hand. But was hiding the injury actually his fault? There is finally an answer.

That’s the question that Team Khabib’s coach, Javier Mendez, addressed during his recent conversation with Mohammad Amer on The Javier and Mo Show. During the conversation, the AKA coach pointed at a checklist that the coach and athletes should follow. But the talks took a different turn when Amer asked, “Can we agree that Umar should have told you? It’s his fault.”

You see, the bantamweight prospect had broken his second metacarpal. Right after the fight, he showed the world that his hand was swollen due to the injury. And later, he shared an X-ray image, highlighting a support screw implanted to heal his metacarpal. Needless to say, the injury will keep him out of the fighting scenes till October 2025. But is it really his fault? 

Mendez responded, “We can agree on that. But we also, because I’m coaching him, we can also agree, I didn’t enforce it enough. We can agree on that. One million percent. That’s why I’m saying, I take ownership, because I should have drilled in more on that. I didn’t drill him enough on it. So, that’s what I’m saying. So, no way I’m putting that on that kid. No way. It’s on me more than him.” 

While we can put the blame on the injury for messing up Nurmagomedov’s UFC 311 victory, we can also consider him hiding the same to be the reason as well. Well, according to the AKA coach, the outcome of the fight could have been different had Young Eagle told his cornermen about his injury. This is how the coach responds to it.

If only the coach knew of Umar Nurmagomedov’s injury

During a previous conversation on the Overdogs Podcast, Mendez had addressed the matter in detail, “He didn’t say one word to Khabib or I about, ‘My hand was broken,’ and I was kind of wondering why did he shoot in right away. He shot in, and when he shot in, and the way Merab stopped him right in his mid way, I go like Damn! ‘What the hell happened here?’”

He revealed that being oblivious to the broken hand was problematic for the cornermen as well. When he heard Nurmagomedov talk about a broken hand, Mendez confessed that he went into thinking mode. He claimed that the bantamweight star showed impeccable skills during sparring sessions, which meant that there was no implication of a broken hand. But when he went into the room right after Islam Makhachev defeated Renato Moicano, he found out that Nurmagomedov’s finger was almost off.

He exclaimed, “I didn’t know! He broke it in the first round, he didn’t tell us, he didn’t show us. We didn’t know. I wish he had told us.” According to him, the former lightweight champion and he himself could have changed the strategy to ensure Nurmagomedov’s victory. Mendez continued, “Khabib and I would have changed the game plan completely around because Khabib is a great corner.” But alas! Some things can never be changed and shall remain as what-ifs. 

What are your thoughts on Young Eagle staying silent on his injury at UFC 311? Do you think things would have been different had he told the coaches about his injury right after the first round? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.