UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili and CEO Dana White have a complicated relationship.
UFC CEO Dana White never pulls verbal punches, even when it comes to his promotion’s top stars. UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili is one of several top names to irk White during his long tenure in the promotion’s leadership.
Dvalishvili will return to the Octagon this weekend at UFC 316 in his latest bantamweight title defense against former rival Sean O’Malley. Just months ago, Dvalishvili dethroned O’Malley by unanimous decision to earn the UFC bantamweight belt.
Before Dvalishvili’s title reign began, he refused to fight for a belt due to his teammate Aljamain Sterling’s time as the division’s champion. Dvalishvili and Sterling’s refusal to fight each other annoyed White, leading to O’Malley getting a quick ascent to a title shot.
Merab Dvalishvili’s ‘stupid’ pre-UFC 306 head cut angered Dana White
Weeks before Dvalishvili’s long-awaited title shot at UFC 306, the then-top contender shared a clip of a gruesome head cut he suffered while in the latter stages of his training camp. Luckily, Dvalishvili’s laceration wasn’t severe enough to cancel the fight, but that didn’t stop White from sharing a strong opinion on the fighter’s decision to show off his wound on Instagram.
O’Malley, one of the UFC’s elite strikers, got a gift in White’s mind after Dvalishvili shared footage of his head cut. After Dvalishvili’s footage went viral, it didn’t take long for White to make his thoughts on the matter known in brutally honest fashion.
In a press conference just days after Dvalishvili’s social media post, White went off on the bantamweight superstar.
“The whole world knows about Merab’s cut,” White said of Dvalishvili. “Our guys are so dumb, it’s next-level unbelievable.
“All of the stuff I talk about with boxing, the one thing I give boxing, when something happens in a camp, it doesn’t leak. Our guys can’t f—– wait to throw it up on social media. Small cut, no big deal, but obviously needed to be posted!
“And why the f— would you want [Sean] to know that? It’s next-level stupid. Some of these guys are so stupid it’s mind-boggling. It’s unbelievable.”
Dvalishvili and White have since squashed their beef, but the two will likely always have a strained relationship after their earlier blowups from afar. This isn’t the first time White has beefed with one of his fighters, as he’d had famous feuds with the likes of Tito Ortiz, Francis Ngannou, and Ben Askren.
Merab Dvalishvili gave Dana White, UFC a false alarm after sharing toe injury ahead of UFC 316
Just days away from UFC 316, Dvalishvili gave fight fans a brief scare when he showed off a nasty toe injury he suffered during one of the final days of his camp. Dvalishvili’s toe ailment prompted a brutal response from White, but it turns out his response was falsified.
Dvalishvili has repeatedly downplayed the toe injury ahead of UFC 316, which was apparently suffered by accident while grappling ahead of the pay-per-view. He’s expected to take another grappling-heavy approach to the Octagon against O’Malley this Saturday.
As Dvalishvili’s stock continues to rise, things between the bantamweight champion and White have cooled off. But don’t be surprised if another bizarre controversy surfaces between them as summer approaches.