Merab Dvalishvili issues ice-cold response while addressing toe injury ahead of UFC 316

UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili recently addressed the rumors about him getting injured ahead of his rematch with Sean O'Malley at UFC 316 next month. As it turns out, 'The Machine' is rumored to be suffering an injured toe.

This came to light in an interview with Paul Felder and Michael Bisping, in which 'The Count' started the conversation by asking the champion about his toe. Dvalishvili joked that the toe is fine but if it causes any problem, he'd cut it off.

Felder then reminded the champion that other fighters, namely Conor McGregor, had to pull out due to an injured toe. To this, Merab Dvalishvili coldly but hilariously 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."

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Check out Merab Dvalishvili's comments below (1:04):

Merab Dvalishvili expects Sean O'Malley to be more aggressive at UFC 316

Merab Dvalishvili first fought Sean O'Malley at Noche UFC 306 back in September last year. Inside the innovative Sphere in Las Vegas, Dvalishvili snatched the title from O'Malley by nullifying his striking with effective distance management and wrestling.

Save for a moment in the final round when O'Malley seemed to have hurt Dvalishvili with a body shot, the entire fight was dominated by the Georgian fighter. When asked what he thinks his rival will do differently in the rematch, Merab Dvalishvili said:

"I think, the first time, he [O'Malley] was waiting for me too much and I was measuring distance good. And every time we get close, I was able to take him down. Now I think he will attack more like he will [be more aggressive]." (1:55 onwards in the aforementioned video)

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Edited by Tejas Rathi