It seems like Merab Dvalishvili has some sort of curse acting upon him. Prior to his fight against Sean O’Malley at UFC 306, ‘The Machine’ received a cut right above his eye. And he showed his injury on social media, which garnered some heated comments from Dana White himself. You see, according to the UFC head honcho, showing his injury right before his bout against O’Malley was a grave error by Dvalishvili. ‘Suga’ is a marksman with 61% significant striking accuracy. It was as if Dvalishvili gave O’Malley a target to exploit during their bout. Nevertheless, the Georgian star managed to overcome the issues and became the bantamweight champion by defeating O’Malley. But he made the same mistake yet again.
‘The Machine’ got yet another injury before the rematch against O’Malley. After he defended his belt against Umar Nurmagomedov, a bout against ‘Suga’ was just like Thanos. Yeah, it was inevitable. But as he was preparing for the rematch at UFC 316, an accident happened during a training session. And the blame was on the undefeated prospect, Cameron Sandoval. You see, the bantamweight champion broke his pinky toe while training with Sandoval.
And as expected, Dvalishvili put the blame on the 26-year-old LFA star. In a viral video on social media, the Georgian could be heard saying, “Why you break my toe, my friend.” But Sandoval protested, “That was you. You kicked me in the head and broke your toe. That’s just wrong.” Soon, the camera shifted focus to the injury and showed that Dvalishvili’s pinky toe had turned completely purple. This was a classic sign of clotting. However, the visuals showed no sign of swelling or inflammation. This meant that the bantamweight champion’s pinky toe might not be broken.
While the injury reminded the fighting community of Conor McGregor’s broken pinky toe, this one seemed a lot different. However, Dvalishvili didn’t back down from showing his goofy side on camera. As his teammates inspected the injury, he said, “It’s okay… I’m gonna cut it off.” But the question that remains is – Will he be able to fight with the injury?
Well, such injuries often heal within two weeks. Which means that Dvalishvili has just enough time to heal his toe and step into the Octagon against O’Malley. But even if things don’t get back to normal in time, ‘The Machine’ might have a way to fool the system into letting him fight at UFC 316. How? Let’s see what he did before UFC 311.
How did Merab Dvalishvili hide his injury before UFC 311?
Before his bout against Nurmagomedov, ‘The Machine’ slipped and fell on a staircase. This resulted in a nasty cut on his shin. Even though the accident happened long before the UFC 311 fight week, it looked as if it was still a fresh wound. The reason? It got infected. Talking to Ariel Helwani, the bantamweight champion revealed, “The cut was still open, and it was taking so long to heal up, and finally closed up during fight week. I was worried the commission wasn’t going to let me fight. I was doing everything from the creams every day, massages, therapies.”
So, how exactly did he escape the California commission’s inspection? He continued, “California has a very strict commission, and they check everything on my body. Thursday, the commission guy asked me to show him my shin, I lifted my pants on my left leg, showed him, and then he asked me to show him my other leg. I showed him my left leg [again]. Who knows? Maybe I could’ve passed, but I was worried because it looked like it was fresh, but it was a longtime cut.”
Dvalishvili’s goofiness has indeed helped him a lot. But this time, things might be a bit different. He has already shown the world how bad his toe injury was. And if it doesn’t heal in time, we might not get to witness the war between O’Malley and Dvalishvili at UFC 316. All we can hope is for Dvalishvili’s injury to get better before the weigh-ins for UFC 316.
What are your thoughts on the Georgian champion’s injury? Do you think White will cancel the bout if Merab Dvalishvili’s injury doesn’t heal in time? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.
The post UFC 316 Injury Update: Merab Dvalishvili Willing to Cut Off His Toe Just Weeks Before Sean O’Malley Rematch appeared first on EssentiallySports.