Bantamweight champion  Merab Dvalishvili successfully defend his title at UFC 311 in January but was nearly pulled from the fight due to injuries and a staph infection.  “The Machine” defeated  Umar Nurmagomedov in Inglewood, Calif., but his coaches had given serious consideration to pulling him from the event. Dvalishvili’s coach, John Wood, revealed the multiple issues his fighter was dealing with heading into the UFC 311 title bout. “I think that Umar was going to be the toughest fight for Merab at the time,” Wood told  MMA Fighting .