Umar Nurmagomedov issues statement on social media after title loss to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 311

Umar Nurmagomedov suffered the first loss of his mixed martial arts career this weekend as he fell to Merab Dvalishvili via unanimous decision at UFC 311. The No.2-ranked bantamweight took to Instagram on Sunday to share that he doesn't believe he lost the title bout, but plans to continue his title pursuit after recovering from the broken hand injury he suffered in the fight.

'Young Eagle' shared a photo of himself, captioning the post:

"No excuses. InshaAllah I will become a champion Nothing else matters . Praise be to Allah in any situation And I don't think I lost this fight Even if the whole world convinces me otherwise. I'll deal with my injuries and get back into action. InshaAllah"

Check out Umar Nurmagomedov's Instagram post below:

Nurmagomedov looked to get off to a fast start as he won the first two rounds of the bout. Things changed as the fight progressed, however, as he seemingly ran out of gas dealing with Dvalishvili's nonstop pressure. 'The Machine' was able to use his cardio to control the pace and win the final three rounds en route to a unanimous decision victory in a very entertaining bout.

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Merab Dvalishvili's coach correctly predicted how Umar Nurmagomedov clash would unfold

Many fans and pundits had written Merab Dvalishvili off entering his first bantamweight title defense against Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311. His opponent even suggested that 'The Machine' had no path to victory. John Wood, however, predicted things to unfold exactly how they did.

Speaking to James Lynch, the Syndicate MMA coach stated:

"He just has a different pace and a different cardio that that just is such a big weapon. I expect Umar to be able to deal with some of those things, but come third, fourth, fifth round, I think it's going to be a Merab fight. Those first couple rounds, we're going to see how it plays out. I expect a hard couple of rounds, but I expect Merab to do what he does and take over and put that grind and that pace on."

Check out John Wood's accurate pre-fight prediction of Merab Dvalishvili vs. Umar Nurmagomedov below:

While Nurmagomedov broke his hand in the first round, his cardio appeared to be the bigger deterrent in the bout. He took a step back as the fight progressed, while Dvalishvili only grew stronger in the later rounds.