The UFC bantamweight was injured heading into his fight with Yan earlier this month.
Earlier this month, Merab Dvalishvili turned in one of the most impressive performances of his professional career against Petr Yan at UFC Las Vegas — and he did so with one hand.
Despite outstriking and outwrestling ‘No Mercy’ throughout five rounds, the ‘Machine’ was in pain the entire fight. Why? He re-aggravated a hand injury he suffered in training.
“Two weeks before my fight I injured my hand,” tweeted Dvalishvili. “I was only training with one arm. During the first minutes of my fight, I could feel the pain in my hand, but I was ignoring the pain so I could fight. During the fight, I re-injured my hand and I still feel the pain in my hand today.”
Two weeks before my fight I injured my hand
I was only training with one arm
During the first minutes of my fight, I could feel the pain in my hand, but I was ignoring the pain so I could fight.
During the fight I re-injured my hand and I still feel the pain in my hand today. pic.twitter.com/JzPPq121U4
— Merab “The Machine” Dvalishvili (@MerabDvalishvil) March 23, 2023
Though details were scarce on the severity of his hand injury, Dvalishvili revealing he could ‘still feel the pain’ two weeks removed from the fight sounds worrying. Whether the Serra-Longo Fight Team staple requires surgery remains to be seen.
As for his next fight, Dvalishvili is set on the winner of the Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera vs. Cory Sandhagen at UFC San Antonio on Saturday.
“I would love to fight the winner of them,” said Dvalishvili at his post-fight press conference. “I would love to. Actually, [Aljamain Sterling] was saying he wants to go watch this fight and I would love to go, too. Let’s see. If they want to give me that fight, I’ll take it. Look, someone asked me before. I think the winner of this, if they had to fight me, let’s see what the UFC chooses. I’m willing to fight anybody. No problem.”
About the author: Kristen King is a writer for Bloody Elbow. She has covered combat sports since 2016. (full bio)