Javier Mendez reveals Abubakar Nurmagomedov popped his knee early in UFC on ESPN 45 loss

It appears Abubakar Nurmagomedov had to battle some early adversity at UFC on ESPN 45.

Nurmagomedov (17-4-1 MMA, 2-2 UFC) was edged out in a split decision loss to Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos (24-7 MMA, 10-3 UFC) in this past Saturday’s main card at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Coach Javier Mendez revealed that Nurmagomedov hurt his knee in Round 1, but decided to battle through it. Nurmagomedov was able to win Round 2 on two of the judges’ scorecards, but lost Round 3 on all three.

“It was such a close and competitive fight,” Mendez said on his YouTube channel. “Hats off to dos Santos. He’s a great fighter. He really is a great fighter. I watched him fight, and I said, ‘Man, we got our hands full.’ I was very proud of Abubakar. He fought like a warrior. He popped his knee in the first round. He comes back, he goes, ‘I popped my knee.’ I went, ‘Ohh, boy.’ This is one of those situations where injuries happen all the time.

“Whether you pop your knee, you break your hand, I’m sorry, but you gotta go out and win the fight or you quit right there on the stool. He didn’t wanna quit, obviously. He went and fought, he fought his heart out, and obviously, he couldn’t do what he wanted. But regardless, the other opponent was super tough. And hey, it was a great fight. Not for the fans but for us, it was a great fight in the sense that we didn’t know who won. Both sides didn’t know.”

Nurmagomedov has now split his first four octagon appearances. After an upset loss to David Zawada in his UFC debut, the 33-year-old rebounded with back-to-back wins over Jared Gooden and Gadzhi Omargadzhiev, before dropping a split decision to Zaleski dos Santos.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 45.