Merab Dvalishvili assures toe injury won't impact UFC 316 title fight vs. Sean O'Malley

Merab Dvalishvili assures toe injury won't impact UFC 316 title fight vs. Sean O'Malley
Bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili says his toe injury is of no concern heading into UFC 316.
Dvalishvili (19-4 MMA, 12-2 UFC) runs things back with Sean O'Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) in the June 7 main event from Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. Just weeks before his title fight, Dvalishvili shared a video showing off a severely bruised pinky toe, raising speculation that it could be broken.
"Toe is good," Dvalishvili affirmed on the "Believe You Me" podcast. "Like I said, if something, I can cut it off, but I don't need to cut it off (laughs). It's good. It doesn't bother me."
"The Machine" was asked about Conor McGregor withdrawing from his return fight against Michael Chandler at UFC 303 last June due to a broken pinky toe, but the champion tried to refrain from taking any shots at him.
"I don't want to comment about Conor McGregor's toe because I don't know the exact pain or situation, but I still have nine other toes, and it's fine," Dvalishvili said.
Dvalishvili admitted that it could be hard to get up for a second fight with O'Malley after dominating him in their first encounter last September. He does, however, plan to fine tune a few things for their rematch.
"Not a big change, but maybe more striking," Dvalishvili said. "It was my first title fight, and I was more focused on winning the fight, and I was the underdog and I didn't care what people were going to say. Now, I'm going to be more focused to show a good fight, and I'm going to show more striking."

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

USA Today

44 minutes ago

• USA Today

Din Thomas: UFC champ Jon Jones' nonsense a marketing ploy, will fight Tom Aspinall

Din Thomas thinks Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall is being dragged out for a reason. UFC heavyweight champion Jones' most recent comments regarding the long-awaited title-unification bout with interim Aspinall have been worrisome after saying that he "could really care less about fighting." Dana White's patience has been running thin, and the UFC CEO said he's willing to move on if the fight doesn't get done in a couple of weeks. Analyst and coach Thomas is confident Jones (28-1 MMA, 22-1 UFC) will end up fighting Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC). "It's got to be Jon Jones," Thomas told MMA Junkie. "I think all this nonsense is just marketing. I think it's marketing to keep it out there, to make it even bigger. Every show I've done, we talked more about Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall. We've talked about a fight that wasn't even signed more than fights that happened, and I think that was done purposely. "I think Jon Jones is going to fight. He has to. There's no way he goes this route, does all this, and then not fight. I think it's all marketing to keep it out there, to make it even bigger, and bigger, and bigger, and this is going to end up getting signed, and then it's going to be the big fight the UFC needs to close out the year." Jones has been accused of ducking Aspinall, been labeled as scared, and had plenty of fighters and pundits criticize his actions for dragging out the fight. Thomas still think Jones has played the entire situation smartly. "It's the right strategy, too, because think about this: If the plan was to have them fight in November or December, and we announced it in February, no one would talk about it until then. We get tired of talking about it, but the idea of Jon Jones hinting around, Tom Aspinall calling him a duck, it just really kept us dangling. It just kept that carrot dangling in front of us, and we'd reach for it, and then we go, 'Oh.' Then they bring it back out and we reach for it and we go, 'Oh.' But I think now's about the time where they can make it a really strong announcement and we go, 'Yes!' It's like a movie." To hear more from Thomas, check out his complete appearance on "The Bohnfire" podcast with MMA Junkie senior reporter Mike Bohn above.

Yahoo

an hour ago

• Yahoo

Din Thomas: UFC champ Jon Jones' nonsense a marketing ploy, will fight Tom Aspinall

Din Thomas thinks Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall is being dragged out for a reason. UFC heavyweight champion Jones' most recent comments regarding the long-awaited title-unification bout with interim Aspinall have been worrisome after saying that he "could really care less about fighting." Advertisement Dana White's patience has been running thin, and the UFC CEO said he's willing to move on if the fight doesn't get done in a couple of weeks. Analyst and coach Thomas is confident Jones (28-1 MMA, 22-1 UFC) will end up fighting Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC). "It's got to be Jon Jones," Thomas told MMA Junkie. "I think all this nonsense is just marketing. I think it's marketing to keep it out there, to make it even bigger. Every show I've done, we talked more about Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall. We've talked about a fight that wasn't even signed more than fights that happened, and I think that was done purposely. "I think Jon Jones is going to fight. He has to. There's no way he goes this route, does all this, and then not fight. I think it's all marketing to keep it out there, to make it even bigger, and bigger, and bigger, and this is going to end up getting signed, and then it's going to be the big fight the UFC needs to close out the year." Jones has been accused of ducking Aspinall, been labeled as scared, and had plenty of fighters and pundits criticize his actions for dragging out the fight. Thomas still think Jones has played the entire situation smartly. Advertisement "It's the right strategy, too, because think about this: If the plan was to have them fight in November or December, and we announced it in February, no one would talk about it until then. We get tired of talking about it, but the idea of Jon Jones hinting around, Tom Aspinall calling him a duck, it just really kept us dangling. It just kept that carrot dangling in front of us, and we'd reach for it, and then we go, 'Oh.' Then they bring it back out and we reach for it and we go, 'Oh.' But I think now's about the time where they can make it a really strong announcement and we go, 'Yes!' It's like a movie." To hear more from Thomas, check out his complete appearance on "The Bohnfire" podcast with MMA Junkie senior reporter Mike Bohn above. This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC analyst: Jon Jones' actions all marketing, will fight Tom Aspinall

USA Today

an hour ago

• USA Today

Video: Mariya Agapova kisses Jessica Eye on the mouth during BKFC faceoff

Two former UFC fighters shared a kiss during BKFC 76 pre-fight faceoffs, though one was not happy. While fighters occasionally get physical during their final opportunity to mean-mug their opponent, it's not usually in the way Mariya Agapova did it Friday when she kissed Jessica Eye on the mouth. Eye was not a consenting party in the lip-locking. She appeared caught off guard by the action and vented some frustration toward Agapova moments later. The maneuver could add an additional layer of heat to Saturday's matchup, which takes place on the main card at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.