UFC Bantamweight Champion Merab Dvalishvili’s coach, John Wood, wants to set the record straight about the Georgian’s recent toe injury.
John Wood on Merab Dvalishvili’s “Fight-Canceling” Setback
Last week, Merab Dvalishvili made a troubling post on Instagram revealing that he had apparently broken his pinky toe during a freak accident in sparring. After his training partner blocked a high kick from the incumbent, the appendage immediately began to grow purple in color, indicating a serious predicament for the 135-lb king.
Speaking with Submission Radio, Wood shed a little light on the seemingly unfortunate situation that his fighter is in, stating how Merab Dvalishvili has overplayed the injury.
“He loves to rile everybody up,” Wood said on Merab Dvalishvili’s injury. “The thing is, as much as people think, ‘oh, that’s stupid or this or that,’ he would never post something that was going to take him out of a fight. So guys, if he’s posting something it’s really not that bad and it’s not going to bother him that bad.”
John Wood Calms Fears over Merab Dvalishvili’s Injury
Despite the nature of what happened to his pupil Merab Dvalishvili, Wood was quick to point out that he was not hindered at all by the injury while also reminding readers and viewers that most competitors will encounter a few bumps and bruises during their preparations for their bouts.
“I’m sure he broke his toe but like you don’t understand, every camp and every fighter, even [Sean] O’Malley says it, everybody is banged up,” he said. “There’s a level of injuries you go into fights with. That’s the way it is. That’s the way it’s going to be, and that’s the way it always is. It’s just one of those things, obviously, Merab likes to post about a little more than everybody else. It’s alright, though. He’s all good.”
Injuries Heading Into Fights Nothing New for Merab Dvalishvili
While the damage done to his toe isn’t an ideal scenario heading into a championship main event, Wood goes on to highlight how the bantamweight apex had won several key contests while suffering from some form of lingering injury. In fact, the Syndicate MMA founder quite bluntly stated that Dvalishvili would have to exit the mortal coil for him not to step into the Octagon.
“You don’t want any injuries, that’s the deal, obviously,” he said. “We’d love to go into a camp and be injury-free but that just doesn’t happen. That’s nothing compared to a lot of the things we’ve had going into fights. He’s had some massive injuries going into some massive fights before and been banged up. Broken ribs and backs complete out of whack, but that’s just the way it goes. He’s going to show up and do his job no matter what. You’ll have to kill him to keep him out of the cage. He’s so game day, he’s so ready to go.”
