UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili is set to defend his title at UFC 316 against Sean O’Malley—who he won it for the first time.
While the fighter is preparing for his upcoming fight, his previous bout against Umar Nurmagomedov took quite a toll on him. After his win over O’Malley in September, the champ wasted no time, taking a bout in January to defend his title against Nurmagomedov. Although an up-and-coming contender, Dvalishvili stood his ground and successfully defended his title. But his coach—John Wood—recently revealed it took a lot from the fighter to come out victorious.
“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 sometime and same thing, we beat them. They asked for the fight and came out like, ‘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. Personally, if it were up to me—and I haven’t really told anybody—I probably would have pulled him out of the fight. I honestly would have.”
The fighter has always been known for his perseverance and ability to push himself in the Octagon, so it came as no surprise that he would be willing to do what it takes. Despite the support of his team, Coach Wood revealed he was concerned for the fighter, as he was also treating a staph infection.
“It was that bad. That dude could barely walk, but then he goes and spars 10 rounds and looks phenomenal,” Wood said. “So I knew he could do it. In the room, I was like, ‘We’re going to win this fight,’ but in the back of my head, I was like, ‘Jesus, he’s so banged up.’”
While he definitely wasn’t at his best physically, Dvalishvili still put on a vintage performance and earned a unanimous decision win. The champ’s tenacity and resilience show that he is ready for the fight and will be a tougher opponent for O’Malley to beat.
“I will tell you this, if Merab ever loses that belt, you will not hear excuses from him,” Wood said. “You won’t hear, ‘Oh my leg was falling off,’ or, ‘It was raining outside,’ or whatever they come up with. Umar was a tough fight. There was no doubt in my mind Merab was going to win that fight. The way Merab fights, what he brings to the table, it’s just different. People do not understand it.
“That’s why this fight is kind of intriguing, because Sean kind of knows that now. Tim [Welch] knows that, they’ve kind of felt that. What’s going to happen is they’re going to have a good round, or maybe a good round or two, but once things start the same way they did before, it’s going to be even more defeating and deflating than it was the first time. That’s where it brings a different kind of matchup for us.”
