Merab Dvalishvili is training hard for his first Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) title shot.
“The Machine” is training so hard, in fact, that he’s damaged himself ahead of the big Sean O’Malley Noche UFC main event next month (Sat., Sept. 14, 2024). Taking to Instagram, Dvalishvili revealed he suffered a cut over his eye in training today (Weds., Aug. 20, 2024). The video can be seen in the embedded player above.
Any little injury is a strange thing to share publicly, especially ahead of a title fight, and it has the Bantamweight champion slightly concerned about the fight’s status.
“This little f*ckin rat better not pull out I swear to god,” O’Malley quote tweeted,
Dvalishvili, on the other hand, did his best to calm “Sugar’s” competitive nerves after seeing his reaction.
“Calm down, it’s all good,” Dvalishvili responded. “Just a little training injury. Never pulled out of a fight and never will! I’m coming for you, O’Malley. Stronger than ever. Vamos!”
A title-earning victory over O’Malley wouldn’t be the streaking Dvalishvili’s first over a current or former champion. Dvalishvili’s most recent three victories all came over former champions Henry Cejudo, Petr Yan, and Jose Aldo. As impressive of a stretch as those three wins are, they’re only three of the total 10 consecutive the Georgian has won, setting the divisional winning streak record.
O’Malley will seek his second successful title defense by spoiling Dvalishvili’s big night on UFC’s big annual Mexican Independence Day celebration.