Merab Dvalishvili is at it again.
Always willing to overshare, the reigning bantamweight champion revealed a toe injury on social media ahead of his upcoming title defense against Sean O’Malley at UFC 316 on June 7 in Newark, N.J.
Check out the the state of Dvalishvili’s foot below, courtesy of an Instagram Story video shared by vato.gv and later re-posted by Dvalishvili.
vato.gv, Instagram
“Why you break my toe, my friend?” Dvalishvili asks in the video. He is speaking to training partner Cameron Sandoval, a bantamweight fighter who recently scored a win over Victor Santos at an LFA show this past March to improve to 4-0.
“That was you, you kicked me in the head and broke your toe, that was your fault,” Sandoval said.
“I’m going to cut it off,” Dvalishvili said. “This guy broke it.”
It should be noted that neither the injury nor the ensuing discussion around it appeared to be serious. That said, sharing the news was a curious decision, especially considering Dvalishvili’s past behavior ahead of title fights.
Dvalishvili drew the ire of UFC CEO Dana White a month ahead of his first fight with O’Malley at UFC 306 in September 2024, when he revealed he needed to get stitches above his left eye to address a small cut. White called Dvalishvili’s decision to publicly release the information “next-level stupid.”
Ahead of his first title defense at UFC 311 this past January, Dvalishvili again dealt with health issues, though these were not revealed until after the fight, a unanimous decision win over the previously undefeated Umar Nurmagomedov. Dvalishvili had two cuts on his right leg that he showed off at the post-fight press conference and his coach John Wood recently said the Dvalishvili was “half-dead for that fight” due to a staph infection and antibiotic treatment for his wounds.
The Dvalishvili vs. O’Malley rematch headlines UFC 316 on June 7. In their first meeting at UFC 306, Dvalishvili used his wrestling to neutralize O’Malley en route to winning a unanimous decision and claiming the bantamweight title. It was the 12th straight win for Dvalishvili, who has not lost a fight since April 2018.
