Mailbag: Did Merab Dvalishvili make a mistake revealing his toe injury ahead of UFC 316?

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28-05-2025

How concerned should we be about Merab Dvalishvili's toe injury ahead of the Sean O'Malley rematch at UFC 316? What upcoming fight should we protect at all costs? And what's the walkout song you never want to hear again?
All that and more in this week's mailbag. To ask a question of your own, hit up @benfowlkesmma or @benfowlkes.bsky.social.
@NeedXtoseePosts: With Merab posting a video of his injury (again) and continuing his videos,
Is there a sillier little guy in the UFC?
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A while back I asked Merab Dvalishvili about his approach to social media and the thing he seemed most adamant about was that he didn't want it to be the same boring crap that most fighters do on there.
You've probably seen what he's talking about. It's all gym selfies or pictures of boringly nutritious dinners or half-hearted sponsor shoutouts. One day the fighter is posting pics of his training partners with some 'iron sharpens iron' caption. Then three weeks later, after he loses his fight, he's on there telling us how he suffered a punctured lung in sparring (but of course he's not making excuses).
To be clear, Merab is also doing many of those same things on his Instagram. But he's also doing a fair amount of Just Messing Around. He has his little skits with the Sean O'Malley lookalike (who at this point is like a regular on a long-running sitcom, whether he likes it or not). He has stuff that is at least recognizable as attempts at humor. And when he hurts his toe on somebody's head, sure, he's going to tell us that in the most good-natured way possible.
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I see it as Merab staying true to his own vision, which I respect. I also see it as some stuff I'd want to pay attention to if I'm O'Malley. If they end up in a clinch against the fence, you think that toe isn't getting stomped? I'd just about guarantee it. There is such a thing as being too open and accessible on social media, especially in this sport.
@Kib_KC: Would you rather: Max wins an all-out war, or Dustin wins via gilly
This is one fight where I'm firmly in the 'I just hope both teams have fun' camp. One of the reasons I like this booking so much is because we could conceivably be happy with a bunch of different outcomes.
If Dustin Poirier wins (especially via his first career guillotine choke) and rides off into the sunset, awesome. If Max Holloway gets one back against a friendly rival he's been battling in the UFC since they were both fresh-faced kids, also cool. As long as we get a good fight with a clear conclusion, it'll be a success.
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But if you force me to pick a side, I have to go with Poirier in this one. Seeing him exit the sport with a win in front of his home crowd would be a real feel-good moment. My only fear is that, sometimes when fighters win that retirement fight, it convinces them that they shouldn't be retiring after all.
@jaypettry: If you were to wrap one currently scheduled fight in bubble wrap and guarantee it happens, which one would it be?
Dricus du Plessis vs. Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 319. I would have chosen Ilia Topuria vs. Islam Makhachev if the UFC hadn't found a way to avoid giving fans what they actually want there. Instead I'll take this legitimately fascinating middleweight title fight, and for two main reasons.
The first is that, style-wise, this feels pretty bonkers. Will "DDP" get to launch his awkwardly effective herky-jerky offense on yet another top 185-pounder? Or will Chimaev take him down and grind him into a fine paste before he can even get going? There are just so many weird ways for these fighters to mix up their styles and skills together, and I can't wait to see what it actually looks like.
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The second reason is that, whether we want to admit it or not, du Plessis now stands on the precipice of middleweight greatness. If he wins this fight he'll have victories over almost everyone who's mattered at middleweight for the last five-plus years. He finished Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker. He beat Sean Strickland twice. He's undefeated in the UFC. Now he could add a win over the guy we've been hearing about as the heir apparent seemingly forever.
I ask you honestly, is there a better middleweight run this side of Anderson Silva? "DDP" could cement his status as one of the all-time greats at 185 pounds here. And I don't think we're anywhere close to being emotionally prepared for that possibility.
@grave_ko: After everything thats happened since Jon went to heavyweight and even disregarding personal issues, does the steroids and the ducking both Francis and Tom do enough to fully tarnish Jon Jones legacy that he can no longer be considered a GOAT candidate? Thanks guys.
It's always tricky trying to have to legacy conversation while a fighter's career is … technically … kind of … sort of still going. Even right after somebody retires, we don't necessarily know for sure what the full picture might look like. We need some time and distance to assess these things.
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Thing is, you can undercut almost any fighter's accomplishments if you really want to. Georges St-Pierre? He was a decision specialist who bailed on the division just when good fighters were starting to show up. Fedor Emelianenko? Fought nothing but tomato cans in an organization devoted to his continued success. Anderson Silva? Well, I have nothing right now but give me a few days and I'm sure I'll come up with something.
Point is, even if you have a legit claim to GOAT status on paper, it doesn't guarantee people will give you full credit later on. This is especially true if you exit on a very sour note.
Consider that there are probably plenty of 'pandemic fans' — people who only got into this sport when the UFC was one of the few shows going during the spring of 2020 — who don't get what the big deal is about Jon Jones. He's only won two fights since then, the last of which came against a semi-retired 42-year-old firefighter. If he retires without fighting Tom Aspinall, that will be one of the main things they remember about him.
@PhotoAmy33: What's the walkout song you hope you never have to hear again?
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'Roar' by Katy Perry. No disrespect to Miesha Tate for choosing this, but what the hell. It's an assault on the eardrums by one of the most blandly vapid pop stars of the past two decades, and you think that's going to get a crowd fired up to see you fight?
Honorable mention, since it's not technically a walkout song: That terrible dubstep remix of 'Hotel California' that the UFC's house DJ used to play at every event. There's a song where both concept and execution are an affront to humanity. People have been jailed for less.
@johnwmerva: Has MMA really passed, or hit, its high water mark? It just seems that the UFC is in decline or putting in no effort, ONE is really a Muay Thai org and PFL/Bellator are out. Where's the sport actually going to go to now if no-one's really pushing its development?
It's in a lull, but that doesn't mean it will stay there. If you look at the history of fight sports, from the bare-knuckle days of the London Prize Ring to now, you'll see that it always moves in waves. A popular or controversial fighter appears, drives interest, and then declines or departs. Fan interest waxes and wanes. It's how it always goes, and right now we appear to be in a waning phase.
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The only thing that really worries me about it is that the UFC and its parent company are still raking in revenue despite the lull. They've done such a good job of, as TKO executive Ari Emanuel once put it, 'taking the lumpiness out of the business,' that the company still gets paid a ton of money even if no one is watching.
So where's the incentive to really get fans excited, or to do a good job of building and promoting new stars? That's what I worry about. If the suits in the boardroom see that they can put this thing in cruise control and still bathe in cash, they don't have much reason to try harder.