BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Zabit Magomedsharipov had made quite an impression already with his “Fight of the Night” barnburner opposite a game Kyle Bochniak, but his third straight UFC win looks even more impressive when you get some background info on it.

After taking the nod on all three judges scorecards following the pay-per-view main-card UFC 223 battle with fellow Bochniak (8-3 MMA, 2-3 UFC), Magomedsharipov (15-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) showed up backstage with his right hand bandaged up. Asked about it, he casually answered through a translator.

“In the first round, I hit my right hand really hard, and I believe it’s broken,” Magomedsharipov said. “I’m not sure right now, but the rest of the fight, I could not use it.”

OK, so fighting – like that – for more than two entire rounds with a broken hand would have been quite the astounding feat in itself. But, according to MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani, Magomedsharipov was actually hurt while warming up before the fight.

Pressed about it, the fighter insisted the injury was suffered in the first round. But Helwani would later tweet that the fighter’s coach, Mark Henry, confirmed the injury had taken place before he walked out to the octagon at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

But wait, because it gets more badass than that.

Two weeks prior to the encounter, Magomedsharipov said, he was actually suffering from “a little bit” of staph infection and, as a result, felt a tad weak during the featherweight encounter.

Still, Madgomedsharipov is clear that he doesn’t want that to take away from an opponent who proved himself one tough foe despite being the biggest underdog on the card.

“Definitely, Kyle was a tough guy,” Madgomedsharipov said. “He did really well. I was surprised. I wasn’t expecting so much from him. He has a big heart.”

The fact that Bochniak made it all the way to the judges’ scorecards helps prove that. After all, that’s something Madgomedsharipov’s previous eight opponents couldn’t do. The 27-year-old Russian not only finished his first two octagon encounters, but he earned $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonuses for both.

Not to mention, just having an opponent at all was cause enough for Madgomedsharipov to celebrate. According to him, just being matched up at all proved a bit of a tricky task after what he says were “like, five opponents” refused to fight him.

“I don’t remember all the names,” Magomedsharipov said. “The first one was Artem Lobov. Then, it was Yair Rodriguez. And there was Andre Fili.”

One of the names on the list seems to be a bit of a fixed thought. After calling Rodriguez out following his submission win over Sheymon Moraes at UFC Fight Night 122 last November, Magomedsharipov reiterated his request on Saturday, while still up in the octagon.

The matchup immediately garnered some interest on social media, but Rodriguez didn’t take long to put at least a temporary lid on it.

It’s a good thing, then, that Magomedsharipov isn’t losing sleep over it, either.

“I hope he’ll accept it,” Magomedsharipov said. “But, to be honest with you, I don’t care exactly if it’s going to be Yair or any top-10 ranked fighter.”

To hear more from Magomedsharipov, check out his full post-fight scrum on the video above.

And for complete coverage of UFC 223, check out the UFC Events section of the site.