Shara Magomedov fell to the first defeat of his MMA career against Michael "Venom" Page on Saturday at UFC Saudi Arabia.
Magomedov (15-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) slumped to a unanimous decision loss after 3 rounds in which he struggled to close the distance on "MVP" and never showed any signs of replicating the spectacular finish he pulled off in his previous bout against Armen Petrosyan.
"Bullet" enjoyed a perfect run inside the Octagon during 2024, picking up wins over Antonio Trocoli, Michal Oleksiejczuk and Petrosyan but will now have to bounce back after tasting defeat for the first time.
"It wasn't my day yesterday", Magomedov told Red Corner MMA the day after the event. "There might be a bunch of excuses but I just need to collect myself, do everything I have to do, come back and show my potential.
"This would be the real justification to let people see what's what. Yesterday I wasn't my true self in the Octagon. Unfortunately there was just 30 percent of me there. I took the risk and I fully accept what happened. My hand wasn't raised and I failed to do anything great there to impress the fans and win".
Magomedov struggled to close the distance on Page and his dynamic striking skills looked to desert him, something the Russian blames on health issues he is currently dealing with.
"It was the worst camp in my entire professional MMA career" he explained. "I've never felt that sick in the cage. My legs were gone, my arms felt weak, I've got a lot of health issues I don't want to reveal. It was a whole bunch of problems that affected my performance. My mind was there but my body was off.
"I've got dysbacteriosis and parasitosis in my intestine. I've got problems with the bile flow. I hoped to fix this issue at least before the fight but it's still there, that's why I could not keep the proper pace.
"I was feeling sick after throwing just a few punches, so I needed a break after every couple of punches. Just moving on my feet for a minute, I was even afraid that I could throw up in the fight. When I was going back to my corner after the first round I felt like I was about to throw up.
"All that bile that stuck up here didn't let me work. It's still there even now. My legs were gone because of all these problems with the bile flow, the intestine, the pancreas and a lot of other things I don't want to reveal. All of these problems can be fixed but it takes time. So I need to take care of my health".