Dana White cannot believe Merab Dvalishvili would do something like that.
On Tuesday, Dvalishvili sustained a small cut above his left eye during training which required stitches, and immediately went on social media to post about it. Just 25 days out from his upcoming bantamweight title fight against Sean O’Malley at UFC 306, Dvalishvili insisted that the small injury will not impact his training and won’t force him from the bout.
“Everything is good my friends. It’s happening all the time. This is nothing. I’m getting stitched up and make sure I can continue training, tonight, tomorrow, all week. I feel great. O’Malley is in big trouble. This little cut is only going to make me stronger.”
Despite Dvalishvili’s insistence that this won’t effect anything, White was nevertheless, flabbergasted that he would ever do this in the first place.
“The whole world knows about Merab’s cut, he posted it,” White said in his media scrum following Contender Series. “Our guys are so dumb it’s next level unbelievable. All the stuff I talk about boxing, what I will give boxing, when something happens in a camp, let me tell you what, it does not leak. Our guys can’t f*cking wait to throw it up on social media. It’s a small cut. It’s no big deal, but obviously needed to be posted...
“And why the f*ck would you want [O’Malley] to know that?! It is next level stupid. Some of these guys are so stupid it’s mind-boggling. It’s unbelievable.”
O’Malley also had his own spin on Dvalishvili’s cut.
This little fuckin rat better not pull out I swear to god. https://t.co/NsuWW0WRWt
— Sean O'Malley (@SugaSeanMMA) August 21, 2024
After White’s comments, Dvalishvili posted another video showing he was already back to training with the stitches and reiterating that he still planned to fight at UFC 306.
White may have had a little extra ire for Dvalishvili’s post due to the high stakes surrounding UFC 306. Dubbed Riyadh Season Noche UFC, the event takes place in Sphere in Las Vegas and is being promoted as “the greatest live sporting event of all time.” As such, the event is allegedly an extremely costly endeavor, and having something happen to the main event has White understandably nervous.
“No. [Knocks on wood]. No. I don’t even talk like this,” White said when asked about a possible backup fighter for UFC 306. “Don’t you dare throw the jinx on me. The cost of doing this production if we have to change anything is f*cking devastating.”
UFC 306 takes place on Sept. 14.
