Merab Dvalishvili’s coach reveals they were close to pulling him from UFC 311 title fight

By Harry Kettle - May 20, 2025

Merab Dvalishvili’s coach has revealed that they nearly pulled him from his UFC 311 title fight against Umar Nurmagomedov.

Merab Dvalishvili

At UFC 316, Merab Dvalishvili will attempt to successfully defend his UFC bantamweight championship for the second time. He’ll do so by going up against Sean O’Malley, the same man that he defeated to win the belt in the first place. Since that initial title win, he’s kept himself busy by also locking horns with Umar Nurmagomedov, who he was able to defeat at the start of the year in a really competitive affair.

RELATED: Conor McGregor praises Merab Dvalishvili ahead of his UFC 316 return

However, in the immediate aftermath of the fight, there were rumblings that Dvalishvili was going through some injury problems in the lead-up to the bout. Either way, though, Merab was able to get the job done in pretty impressive fashion.

Now, in a recent interview, his coach John Wood opened up on what exactly Dvalishvili was going through.

Dvalishvili’s injury concerns

“I think that Umar was going to be the toughest fight for Merab at the time,” Dvalishvili’s head coach John Wood told MMA Fighting. “I think we’ll end up fighting him again some time and same thing, we beat them. They asked for the fight and [they came out] ‘Oh I’m injured, I’m this, I’m that.’ Well, Merab was half-dead for that fight.

“You don’t understand, he had an open wound, he had a staph infection, he was on all kinds of antibiotics. I personally, if it was up to me honestly, and I haven’t really told anybody, I probably would have pulled him out of the fight. I honestly would have.”

Quotes via MMA Fighting

What do you believe will happen when Merab Dvalishvili runs it back with Sean O’Malley? Let us know your thoughts, BJPENN Nation!

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Merab Dvalishvili UFC