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Umar Nurmagomedov has accidentally admitted that he trained with a broken hand and suffered an injury late last year.
Nurmagomedov will face Merab Devalisvili in the main event UFC 311—the UFC’s first pay-per-view event of 2025—for the title on Jan. 19.
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The undefeated Russian has won all six of his UFC fights and features on a stacked card with Islam Makhachev defending his lightweight title against Arman Tzarukian.
In November, Nurmagomedov revealed that a “small arm fracture” had prevented him from fighting this month, which led to confusion as it had not been long since his fight with Devalishvili had been announced.
ESPN’s Brett Okamoto pressed the 30-year-old, who celebrates his birthday on January 3rd, on how he has managed to fight in January now.
Nurmagomedov probably wished his reply had been a little shorter and Devalisvili was certainly keeping an eye on his next opponent.
“After I was in Dagestan. Nurmagomedov said: I punched with my arm ESPN MMA.
“I went to the show doctor and showed them, they checked the bone.
I took an x-ray and they said it was broken. I went again after 20 days. I ran even when it was broken.
I wanted to stay in shape, I tried shadowboxing, I tried to stay in shape and after 20 days I go again and it’s so much better.
“Even my fists, stuff: I can wrestle, do wrestling classes. I can do everything.
Then I called my manager Ali (Abdelaziz) and told him: Hey, I want to fight.
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He said, “But you said you were injured,” and I said, “I told you to do this fight.”
My manager and my brother (Osman Nurmagomedov) said: “Are you crazy?” You can’t fight like that, and they said no.
“(UFC) asked again, they called me again: ‘Are you fighting Merab?’ Of course I had already asked Ali to make the fight.
I want to fight in Ramadan, if Merab wants to fight, I want to be active.
Dana White At the end of February, he will lose several key fighters during Ramadan, which is probably why his promotion rushed to finish off Devalishvili and Nurmagomedov this month.
Nurmagomedov’s confession can raise questions California The State Athletic Commission (CSAS), which sanctioned the race in Inglewood, deemed it unsafe for the Russian to fight such an injury.
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Reports on Friday suggested that the UFC had removed Nurmagomedov’s interview from YouTube to prevent that from happening, but those reports appear to be false as the full interview is still available to watch.
MMA Fans around the world reacted to Nurmagomedov’s comments and claimed that he might be hiding an injury.
One took to X and wrote: “He’s probably not 100/100, but it doesn’t seem like a big deal. “He was still punching and training, I’m sure he’s fine.”
Another said: negative IQ.
“It’s very simple,” added a third. He doesn’t think Merab is a KO threat and probably thinks he can still win with a minor injury.
“Let it be clear that if this was serious, he wouldn’t have fought. Ali and Khabib’s team don’t take risks like that. It’s a smart thing to do, by the way.”
The new UFC champion compares himself to Jon Jones and Mike Tyson ahead of UFC 311.
Nurmagomedov is trained in MMA by his cousin Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Coach Khabib has just entered one of the busiest months in his new role, with Nurmagomedov and his brother Usman, as well as Makhachev, having world title fights at the end of the month.
Osman will face Paul Hughes from Ireland on Jan. 25 in the PFL for the Bellator lightweight title on a card titled “Dagestan vs. Ireland 2.”
Khabib is expected to carry all three men in their respective world championships.
