“Better Martial Artist Doesn’t Always Win”: Chael Sonnen Feels Umar Nurmagomedov Deserved the Victory Over Merab Dvalishvili

Merab Dvalishvili walked away with his bantamweight title intact after UFC 311, earning a unanimous decision victory over Umar Nurmagomedov. While the judges all sided with Dvalishvili, some didn’t agree with the outcome. UFC veteran Chael Sonnen has now joined this clique. 

According to Sonnen, Umar did enough to win, but fights don’t always favor the superior martial artist. The former middleweight contender fancied Umar’s chances due to the first three rounds and deduced that the verdict in Merab’s favor would anger the fans. 

“ I thought they were going to give Umar rounds 1,2 and 3. I think anyone would have agreed that it comes down to round three. 4 and 5 were very clear, 1 and 2 were very clear. I can’t tell you Merab is the better fighter. That is not what I saw.”

 

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In Sonnen’s experience, five-round fights require more endurance than pure skills. He didn’t want to take anything away from the champion but conceded that “better athletes and better martial artists don’t always win.”

It is arguable if Umar was the better athlete of the two on the night. He certainly had a bigger arsenal than Merab and put it to good use. However, once Merab began pushing the pace, the fight became far more methodical than expected. Merab’s strategy was comparable to a miniature version of Muhammad Ali’s rope-a-dope.

In 1974, Ali kept taking punishment from George Foreman, till the big man tired himself out. Ali then used it to finish the fight. Merab couldn’t do the same but evidently, he did enough.

After the fight, Umar revealed that he had broken his hand in the very first round of the fight.

Umar Nurmagomedov’s hand looks bad.

Apparently, he fought for 4 rounds with a broken hand. pic.twitter.com/KpQcLszTzx

— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) January 19, 2025

Naturally, it didn’t help his cause. But the Dagestani fighter believes he will be back.

No excuses from Umar

Following the fight, Nurmagomedov took to social media with a message of resilience. Although much like Sonnen, he believes he had done enough to win, Umar isn’t letting it get to his heart. He intends to heal and be back on track to get to a title opportunity again.

. “No excuses. InshaAllah, I will become the champion. The rest is not important.”

 

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He is still a top-ranked fighter. And there are still quite a few interesting fights to be made. He could always prepare for someone like Petr Yan, Sean O’Malley, and Deiveson Figueredo among others. Thankfully the bantamweight division is not as stacked as some of its other counterparts. So, it will probably be a year or two but should Umar work on his game and gain experience fighting 5-round fights, there’s a good chance, he faces Merab for the title again.