Merab Dvalishvili breaks silence on toe injury before Sean O’Malley clash at UFC 316

UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili finally set the record straight on whether or not he's truly injured ahead of his title defense against Sean O'Malley at UFC 316 this weekend.

Speaking to his close friend and teammate Aljamain Sterling, 'The Machine' explained what happened to his toe and how bad it really is. 'Funk Master' asked the champ if the toe is an issue, since he never noticed it to be during fight camp.

Dvalishvili explained that after sparring with Sterling, he went with another teammate. The so-called injury happened when he threw a kick and must have landed wrongly on target. He said:

"Yeah, I felt it. It was real. I finished the round. It was no problem. That night, I felt the pain. I put the ice [on it], but [in] the next days, it was [swelling] black and blue. Yeah, it wasn't bad. It's still chubby but it's a little toe. I feel [it] every time I kick now. But when I walk, no problem. I should be fine."

Check out Merab Dvalishvili's comments below:

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When Merab Dvalishvili joked about cutting off his injured toe

In a recent interview segment with Paul Felder and Michael Bisping, Merab Dvalishvili was asked about his injured toe. 'The Count' went right down to business and asked the champion how's his toe.

Dvalishvili jokingly replied:

"Toe is good. Like I said, if something [happens], I can cut it off. But I don't need to cut it off. It's good, it's good. It don't bother me."

Felder then reminded the Georgian champion that other fighters, namely Conor McGregor, famously pulled out of big fights due to the same exact injury. To this, Merab Dvalishvili replied with:

"I mean, I don't want to comment about Conor McGregor's toe because I don't know the exactly the pain and the situation, but my toe...I still have nine other toes and it was fine."

Listen to the conversation here (1:04):

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