Merab Dvalishvili Suffers Sparring Injury

Ex-UFC Bantamweight Champion Merab Dvalishvili (18-5) revealed a training injury that could sideline him for up to twelve months.

The injury comes at a time when Merab was campaigning for an immediate rematch with the current champ Petr Yan after the latter took his belt at UFC 323 last December. Dvalishvili’s reign ended in a unanimous decision loss, leaving their rivalry tied at 1-1.

Dvalishvili has now revealed he has a multi-fragmented nasal fracture after catching a knee directly to the face in sparring. Following an evaluation with a surgeon in Nevada, Merab informed fans that the damage is internal as well as structural. Initial medical estimates suggest a 9 to 12-month hiatus from all contact training.

“What a good day, and a stupid accident, again. My nose is f—- up. Even more cracked in the same direction, my bones are broken inside and on one side I can’t even breathe. Doing an X-Ray now, and I’m sure the UFC will help me with that, even though I don’t have a fight coming up. I’m going to try the surgery to fix [my nose]. I was just sparring and I got knee’d.

“So the doctor’s going to fix my nose and then straighten it. He has to re-break the other bones, too, and it’ll take one more year to heal up. Of course, I don’t want to do that, and otherwise he said to keep it this way and you can do surgery after you retire. But I’m not going to retire [within] the next few years. I guess I’m keeping my nose even more crooked than it was before, and I’ll deal with it,” Dvalishvili said