Javier Mendez, the head coach of UFC bantamweight Umar Nurmagomedov, said his KO loss to Song Yadong was his fault.
In one of the biggest upsets of the year in MMA, Song brutally knocked out Nurmagomedov in the main event of UFC Shanghai in August, in what can only be described as a true shocker.
One of the mistakes that Nurmagomedov made is that he dipped his head down, which is when Song caught him and put him out cold.
The dipping is something that Mendez himself noticed that Nurmagomedov does, and as his head coach, he takes the blame for it.
Javier Mendez Comments on Umar Nurmagomedov’s KO Loss
Speaking to Farah Hannoun of MMAjunkie.com, Mendez commented on Nurmagomedov’s KO loss to Song.
“The fight-ending sequence is what I take away because we’ve been in that situation where he turns away when the shot comes in. He turns away, he’s going for a shot, then he (dips), too much time, and the turn. He’s supposed to just shoot in. The problem is we need to correct that because he’s done that before two times with Mario Bautista, and he did that with another one, but he doesn’t do it in training. He doesn’t do it in training. So it’s like, what do we correct?” Mendez said.
“What do we say? ‘Oh, Umar, don’t do it,’ but he’s not doing it in training. He’s just going right in. So it’s something that I took it upon myself that I’m going to work with him on that. It’s a mental little twitch we have to work on. I’ve got to tell you, I blame me on that one. I have to. I have to blame me because it’s something that I have to think about, and I have to put it in his head because I’m the mental guy. I’m really good in the mental strength and this is one that I need to pick up, and I need to make right.”
Javier Mendez Wants Umar Nurmagomedov to Fight Soon
Despite suffering such a brutal KO loss, Mendez does not want his fighter to sit on the sidelines for too much longer. So, whenever a doctor clears him to get back into the Octagon, Mendez wants him to get back into the cage and try to get back on the horse.
“My advice would be to him is the doctor’s clearing him, and he’s mentally OK, I’d want him to get back on that horse as soon as possible. That’s what I would want, and the RAF thing, if that’s getting on the horse as soon as possible, fantastic. Let’s go. So yeah, I would want him to get back the sooner the better, if that’s what he wants – but he has to be healthy. He has to be cleared,” Mendez said.
Despite the brutal KO loss to Song, Nurmagomedov is still one of the top-five-ranked bantamweights in the UFC and should be in line for another big fight his next time out.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
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