Ahead of his UFC 306 title clash with champion Sean O’Malley, Merab Dvalishvili has found himself amid a fresh health scare. A few days ago, when ‘The Machine’ took to Instagram to announce and rep his official apparel, fans were concerned after seeing bumps on his left arm. Some fans felt were sure signs of a staph infection.

However, in an interview given to the ‘New York Post’ shortly after this post, the Georgian #1 ranked bantamweight has confirmed that he is fine. In fact, Merab Dvalishvili interrupted the interview for a scheduled doctor’s checkup and told the interviewer immediately after that he didn’t have a staph infection and was fine to fight ‘Suga’ on September 14.

“I’m sorry, my friend UFC doctor was just checking me out. They was like looking at this [his arm] like I have nothing. They thought I have a ringworm or like something but I’m good. Yeah, like I take a picture and then there are a lot people commenting like they was thinking I have a staph infection, but I’m good man. Nothing. I don’t have nothing as you see, there is no staph infection,” he said.

Staph infection, of course, is perhaps the most common ailment among fighters, especially wrestlers. While usually not very serious, more severe cases can lead to fighters needing serious medical attention and even surgery. Fans will remember middleweight star Paulo Costa contracting such a severe case of it that he was forced to pull out of his UFC 294 clash against Khamzat Chimaev after he was hospitalized and operated on for a staph infection on his elbow.

And while ‘The Machine’ has denied that he has ‘anything’, undoubtedly, the red bumps on his left arm say otherwise. It may well be a mosquito bite for all we know, but the interviewer, after Dvalishvili’s check-up (which was fast forwarded in the video), did mention something about the doctor saying something about “some sort of anti-fungal” to ‘The Machine’.

But of course, the Georgian has very good reasons to not be very forthcoming about any health scares, especially after the recent tongue-lashing he received from Dana White.

When Dana White called Merab Dvalishvili ‘stupid’ for revealing a cut on the eye

Merab Dvalishvili, of course, was called ‘stupid’ by a clearly incensed Dana White late last month after he posted a video showing he had cut his eye during training and was getting stitches for it. White felt that this not only raised doubts about ‘The Machine’s UFC 306 clash being in trouble but also gave Sean O’Malley, a sublime sniper anyway, a clear target for their UFC Noche clash.

“He posted it. Our guys are so dumb, it’s next-level unbelievable… What I will give boxing, is when something happens in a camp, man. Let me tell you what, it does not leak. Our guys can’t f***ing wait to throw it up on social media,” White told reporters.

Indeed, O’Malley has confirmed that he would “100% going to open up that cut” in their fight, especially since he felt it wouldn’t heal fully until their September 14 clash. And it seems ‘The Machine’, once bitten by Dana White’s ridicule, is twice as shy to speak on any health concerns he has, and that may be why he was so quick to dismiss that there was anything wrong with his elbow.

So, what are your predictions for Sean O’Malley vs Merab Dvalishvili on UFC 306?