Merab Dvalishvili's Coach Says UFC 311 Win Was 'Easier Than Expected'

2 weeks ago 8

Merab Dvalishvili's successful title defense at UFC 311 wasn't expected by everyone, but his coach knew it would be a good night as soon as he saw his man on the morning of the fight.

UFC bantamweight champion Dvalishvili may have been a sizable betting underdog heading into his maiden title defense at UFC 311, but he upset the odds as he took the undefeated record of Umar Nurmagomedov and retained his title with a thrilling performance in the co-main event in Los Angeles.

More news: UFC 311 Recap: Islam Makhachev and Merab Dvalishvili Retain Titles in LA

Speaking to Submission Radio in the aftermath of Dvalishvili's victory, his coach John Wood said that on the night things went even better than they could have imagined pre-fight.

"The only thing I'd say is maybe (it was) easier – easier than expected," Wood admitted.

"But it was, you know? That's not being disrespectful... it's how good Merab is. And I really want people to start, you know, noticing that."

Dvalishvili fell behind on the scorecards after Nurmagomedov started quickly and did well to nullify the Georgian world champion's early pressure and takedown attempts. But as the bout wore on and Dvalishvili's pace increased, Nurmagomedov started to wilt under the pressure as he struggled to fend off the relentless champion.

By the third round, Dvalishvili had taken control, and the champion won each of the final three rounds to claim a unanimous decision victory in a hugely impressive performance at Intuit Dome.

Even more impressive was the fact that Dvalishvili did it all while being far from 100 percent fit, as Wood explained.

"He got his leg cut up on our bleachers," he said.

"He was walking by the bleachers and literally – you'll see the pictures come out, I'm sure, in the next few days – cuts all over where he left it.

"(He) kept training through it, eventually got it stitched up too late and the stitches busted. And then he restitched it, and then just his whole shin became infected. And it was a concern of even getting cleared for this fight and the infection, the staph infection, it was gone. But the skin we were really afraid of to the point where we got the commission to approve getting it wrapped.

"I was like, 'No. I'm not going to show any kind of weakness, I don't care. It's fine. If it breaks open, it breaks open.' So we had that, and basically he couldn't use that leg for the entire camp.

"Then dealing with being on antibiotics and all that kind of s**t. And then his back, you know? He said it the other day, the UFC Embedded (crew) came by or the Countdown (crew), and he was out doing his workout in the street and he jumped up the wrong way and then pinched a nerve – pinched the vertebrae and couldn't walk for a week."

With all that drama happening in the lead-up to the fight, it would have been easy for Dvalishvili to lose focus and head into his first title defense feeling more stressed than usual. But Wood credited his man for his bulletproof fighting mindset, and explained how, despite all of the trials and tribulations heading into fight week, he knew his man was ready to deliver a big performance when he saw him on the morning of the fight.

"It was a complicated camp," Wood explained.

"But all in all, with all that being said – and I told this to Merab – it didn't matter how good he looked in his sparring, how good he was performing in the gym told me what I needed to know, and I just needed to make sure that his mind was on board when he got into that cage.

"That is something about Merab that you cannot teach – it is just in him. He knows how to lock in the day of the fight. Everything changes.

"Once the weight cut's done, he's like, 'Oh my God, I'm going to have a blast.' He just switches into, 'I am going to go out there, fight my ass off and have fun.' Once I saw that in the morning for the shakeout, I was like, 'Oh man, it's going to be a great night.'"