Coach John Wood paid tribute to Merab Dvalishvili after his man bounced back from a difficult fight camp to retain his bantamweight title at UFC 311.

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.