Merab Dvalishvili is honest to a fault.
Less than a year ago, Dvalishvili infuriated his boss, UFC CEO Dana White, by revealing a serious cut just weeks ahead of his Noche UFC main event versus Sean O’Malley. Nobody thought revealing such a weakness to a sniper like O’Malley was a great idea, but it didn’t end up mattering, as Dvalishvili was still able to thoroughly control “Suga” en route to a decision victory.
Since then, Dvalishvili handed Umar Nurmagomedov the first defeat of his professional career to score his first title defense, but he also entered that fight dealing with serious injury. “The Machine” goes too hard to make it to fight night fully healthy, and this upcoming camp for the O’Malley rematch is no different.
Last week, Dvalishvili posted pictures of himself cut (again). On Friday, he shared the video above, showing off a mangled little toe, apparently broken from a high kick gone wrong.
“Why you break my toe?” Dvalishvili asked his training partner with a laugh. “I’m going to cut it off! This guy broke it, and this guy was a witness.”
Here’s a little secret: toe injuries are extremely common in MMA, both in the lead up to fights and during the bouts themselves. Often, toes are injured while kicking when catching an elbow, knee, or shin. Sometimes, it happens just from wrestling or punching, a result of the torque applied from an athlete’s dynamic movement. More often than not, it doesn’t affect the fight. Once upon a time, however, it nearly cost Jon Jones his title.
Scheduled for June 7, Dvalishvili vs. O’Malley 2 is just two weeks away. The Bantamweight main event will go down from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
