Merab Dvalishvili will face his past opponent Sean O’Malley for the second time at UFC 316. While ‘The Machine’ beat him from pillar to post—this time, ‘Suga’ is coming in with his full potential. After the fight, O’Malley declared that he won UFC 306 despite the scores. He said on his YouTube channel, “This first round, a minute and a half left? I won this s***. He still hasn’t really hit me with anything, right? This wasn’t tight at all, I literally won that round, that’s not even that controversial.” 

It was also revealed after the fight that ‘Suga’ could not bring his 100% for the fight due to a torn labrum. However, he has since undergone surgery and hopefully, fully recovered. Since punching power comes from stepping in and winding the hips, will Sean O’Malley have enough to put Merab Dvalishvili away with strikes in the rematch? Well, that’s what ‘Suga’ will be hoping going into the rematch.

Meanwhile, ‘The Machine’ does not seem bothered despite his toe injury before the fight. He did defend his title against Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311 with an ugly gash on his shin—which the doctors wouldn’t have cleared him to fight had he not cleverly concealed it. And while the Georgian won a lot of the exchanges through his pressure and grappling, he intends to have a different game plan this time around.

“Not a big change, but maybe more striking,“ Dvalishvili said to Michael Bisping about his gameplan at UFC 316 against ‘Suga’. Moreover, Home of Fight reiterated what ‘The Machine’ had said to Kevin Iole: “He [O’Malley] stopped my takedowns, and if he stops my takedowns now, I’m planning to strike with him and challenge my striking with another top opponent… I’m ready for a very strong Sean O’Malley, and I’m also looking for a finish in this fight.”

And how has O’Malley been preparing for the rematch? He was seen training with the likes of Israel Adesanya and Demetrious Johnson. Regardless, the bantamweight champion has every intention of besting the best version of the former champion.

‘The Machine’ seems confident in his abilities and said the same to Michael Bisping. He reiterated,  “It was my first title fight, and I was more focused on winning the fight, I was the underdog and I didn’t care what people were going to say. Now, I’m going to be more focused to show a good fight, and I’m going to show more striking.”

All that bravado is great but it’s worth noting that Dvalishvili has a toe injury to worry about. How will that affect his performance? Let’s hear from the champ himself.

Merab Dvalishvili updates on his toe injury

‘The Machine’ hurt his pinky toe while sparring with LFA star Cameron Sandoval. A video uploaded on social media, showed the champ saying, “Why did you break my toe, my friend?” Sandoval complained in reply, “That was you. You kicked me in the head and broke my toe. That’s just wrong.” Then the video panned to Dvalishvili’s toe and it was completely purple. However, there were no signs of swelling—a telltale sign of a broken bone.

Dvalishvili later updated his fans about his recovery through another video. Racing down a steep slope, Dvalishvili announced to his fans that he was fine on social media. He said, “Let’s go, New Jersey! I’m coming June 7th—and still! Suga, you better show up and let’s show people a good fight. No excuse from you, no excuse from me. And people, I promise you, you’re gonna have a great time, a good fight. I’m coming—I’m healthy, I’m ready, I’m hungry. Life is good.”

He also gave a hilarious response to Bisping when the latter asked about the injury. He said, “I still have 9 toes left.” So clearly, the Georgian is not giving up that easily. Do you think he will be able to defend his title against a fully healed-up Sean O’Malley? Tell us in the comments below.