Merab Dvalishvili’s staph infection before UFC 311 could have led to an amputated leg, according to MMA insider Ariel Helwani.
Dvalishvili’s coach, John Wood, has also revealed the brutal injury led to his fighter’s entire leg becoming infected before the win over Umar Nurmagomedov.
Dvalishvili broke Georges St-Pierre’s record for the most takedowns in UFC history en route to defending his bantamweight title at UFC 311.
But thousands of UFC fans wondered just how Dvalishvili, who was the betting underdog going into the bout, managed to beat the undefeated Russian following revelations regarding his injury.
“Someone close to Merab told me that regular people would have probably had their leg amputated, if they had to deal with the staph infection that he had on his leg,” Helwani said.
“He was just taping it up and going to practice…Also, as he alluded to, [he had] a very, very serious back injury.”
Dvalishvili took Nurmagomedov into deep waters and exhausted him in the later rounds in their co-main event to secure a unanimous-decision victory.
The Georgian native displayed remarkable stamina during his five-round 25-minute bout to hand Nurmagomedov the first defeat of his professional MMA career.
Wood has since revealed further details on the gruesome injury suffered by Dvalishvili.
“He got his leg cut up…left it and kept training through it,” he told Submission Radio.
“Eventually got it stitched up too late, the stitches busted and then he restitched it and then his whole shin became infected.
“It was a concern of even getting cleared for this fight. The staph infection was gone but the skin we were really afraid of.
Dvalishvili beat Nurmagomedov at UFC 311 after dealing with a staph injury Nurmagomedov broke his hand during their encounter@Umar_Nurmagomedov via Instagram“To the point where we got the commission to approve getting it wrapped…
“Merab said: ‘I’m not going to show any kind of weakness, I don’t care, it’s fine, if it breaks open, it breaks open.”
Nurmagomedov wasn’t short of injuries either, as he shared images of a broken hand after the fight that he claimed happened in the early rounds.
Overall, the Russian landed more damaging strikes during his bantamweight classic with Dvalishvili, but the champion secured the decision based on his overall control of the bout.
Dvalishvili now has 91 takedowns in the UFC, surpassing St-Pierre’s previous record of 90.
“I took this fight on six weeks notice and the UFC crew were coming to take shots,” Dvalishvili said, speaking on another injury he suffered.
Dvalishvili defended his belt for the first time since beating Sean O’Malley at UFC 306 He welcomed a rematch with O’Malley before UFC 311Getty“We took some sparring videos and interviews in my gym. I said: ‘Let’s go outdoors,’ I went outdoors with my friends and we were running in the mountains, lifting heavy.
“And then I messed my back up! Then I had this fight and I’m laid down in my bed, I’m depressed, I cannot go [to the] gym.
“Umar Nurmagomedov [was] talking trash: ‘Merab will pull out. I won’t be surprised if Merab pulls out.’ I’m like: ‘No! I’m not going to pull out.’ I never pull out.”
Wood expanded further on Dvalishvili’s back injury.
“And then his back His back, you know…he was out doing his workout in the street and he jumped up the wrong way and then pinched a nerve and couldn’t walk for a week.
“So I was like: ‘Oh my God, you know and so it was just it was a complicated camp, but all in all, with all that being said, it didn’t matter how good he was performing in the gym.
“He told me what I needed to know and I just needed to make sure his mind was on board when he got into the cage.”
Dvalishvili has now made his first defence of the UFC bantamweight title since defeating Sean O’Malley at UFC 306.
He told talkSPORT.com before the bout that he would have ‘no problem’ with a rematch against O’Malley, and it is likely that fight will happen next.
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