Injury Update On UFC Bantamweight Merab Dvalishvili

Top-ranked UFC Bantamweight Merab Dvalishvili provided an injury update on his hand.

(via Zuffa LLC)

UFC bantamweight Merab Dvalishvili has given an update on his hand and whether or not surgery is required.

Dvalishvili is riding a nine-fight winning streak, and is fresh off a one-sided unanimous decision victory over former UFC Bantamweight Champion Petr Yan. While the Georgian mauler looks ready for a 135-pound title shot, there are two problems. The first issue is that Dvalishvili and reigning bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling are teammates and close friends. The second problem is a hand injury that Dvalishvili suffered prior to his fight with Yan

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

READ MORE: Merab Dvalishvili Details How He Stole Sean O'Malley’s Jacket at UFC 288

Appearing on MMAFighting's "The MMA Hour," Dvalishvili told Ariel Helwani that while training for the fight with Yan, he had a sparring partner who he became frustrated with. Dvalishvili recalled throwing a straight punch and the sparring partner putting his head down. When the punch made contact with the top of the sparring partner's head, Dvalishvili knew his hand was injured.

Dvalishvili went on to reveal whether or not surgery is required.

"I do need surgery, actually," Dvalishvili said. "I'm scheduled coming up Monday to do surgery, but just in case, Giga Chikadze recommended some other doctor in LA. Doctor Chu? I forgot his name. Just in case, I wanna double check and move my surgery day for maybe the next couple of days. I wanna check with another doctor, too because I wanna know if there's any other way to fix this."

As far as whether or not he needs to have the surgery before taking another fight, the Serra-Longo Fight Team member had an interesting answer.

"It depends who I'm gonna fight," Dvalishvili said. "If they give me Cory Sandhagen, I will fight next week, in two weeks. I don't need the surgery. If I fight Henry Cejudo, I don't need the surgery."

READ MORE: Sean O'Malley Expects To Be Underdog against Aljamain Sterling, Looking to "Shock The World"

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