Dvalishvili fought through a back injury and staph infection to beat Nurmagomedov, who broke his own hand during the bout

In his first statement after exiting the octagon following Dvalishvili’s (19-4 MMA, 12-2 UFC) unanimous decision win to retain the bantamweight title on Saturday, Nurmagomedov (18-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) said he has “no excuses” for failing to get his hand raised for the first time in his career.

UFC 311 was a wild ride. Islam Makhachev and Jiri Prochazka were among the four main card acts to score stoppages. Even the one fight that went the distance was memorable as Merab Dvalishvili showed inspiring will against Umar Nurmagomedov.