Last week bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili revealed that he broke his toe two weeks before his UFC 316 rematch with Sean O’Malley.
The championship rematch with O’Malley headlines the UFC 316 fight card at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. on June 7. The injury appeared to be similar to what forced Conor McGregor out of his scheduled return at UFC 303 last year.
In an appearance on Submission Radio, Dvalishvili’s coach, John Wood, downplayed the injury.
“He loves to rile everybody up. The thing is, as much as people think, ‘oh, that’s stupid or this or that.’ He would never post something that was going to take him out of a fight,” Wood told Submission Radio. “So guys, if he’s posting something it’s really not that bad and it’s not going to bother him that bad.
“I’m sure he broke his toe but like you don’t understand. Every camp and every fighter, even O’Malley says it, everybody is banged up,” Wood continued. “There’s a level of injuries you go into fights with. That’s the way it is. That’s the way it’s going to be, and that’s the way it always is. It’s just one of those things, obviously, Merab likes to post about a little more than everybody else. It’s alright, though. He’s all good.”
Wood doesn’t see a broken pinky toe playing any role in the upcoming UFC 316 title fight. He considers the injury minor compared to others Dvalishvili has had going into fights.
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“That’s nothing compared to a lot of the things we’ve had going into fights,” Wood said. “He’s had some massive injuries going into some massive fights before, and been banged up. Broken ribs and backs complete out of whack. But that’s just the way it goes. He’s going go show up and do his job no matter what.”
Dvalishvili earned the 135-pound championship by defeating O’Malley at UFC 306 last September. Following the fight, O’Malley underwent hip surgery. The rematch with Dvalishvili will be his first fight since losing the title. While O’Malley watched from the sidelines, Dvalishvili successfully defended the title at UFC 311 in January, defeating the Umar Nurmagomedov via unanimous decision.
