Merab Dvalishvili is fighting fit, according to his coach John Wood.

The Georgian fighter — winner of 12 straight bouts in the UFC cage — takes on the second defence of his 135-pounds title at UFC 316 on June 7 where he will once again throw down with the man he claimed the championship from last year, Sean O’Malley.

However, speculation — much of which has come from Dvalishvili himself on social media — has suggested that the bantamweight champion is dealing with a foot injury in advance of the bout, something that could potentially affect his quick, in-and-out style as he seeks a second win over the former titleholder O’Malley.

But while Wood believes that his fighter has a foot injury, he says that it won’t be a factor when the cage door shuts in Newark, New Jersey next month.

“He loves to rile everybody up,” Wood told Submission Radio, as noted by MMA Junkie. “The thing is, as much as people think, ‘Oh, that’s stupid’ or this or that, he would never post something that was going to take him out of a fight. So guys, if he’s posting something, it’s really not that bad, and it’s not going to bother him that bad.

“I’m sure he broke his toe, but you don’t understand. Every camp and every fighter, even O’Malley says it: Everybody is banged up. There’s a level of injuries you go into fights with. That’s the way it is. That’s the way it’s going to be, and that’s the way it always is. It’s just one of those things that obviously, Merab likes to post about a little more than everybody else. It’s all right, though. He’s all good.”

Dvalishvili is no stranger to fighting with injuries, amid reports that he was dealing with a variety of maladies ahead of (and during) his last title defence against Umar Nurmagomedov in January.

“That’s nothing compared to some of the things we’ve had going into a lot of the fights,” Wood added. “You’ve heard a lot about how he was banged up for Umar (Nurmagomedov), but there’s a lot of things he doesn’t talk about. He’s had some massive injuries going into some massive fights before, and been banged up. Broken ribs and backs, and things that are just completely out of whack, but that’s just the way it goes. He’s going go show up and do his job no matter what.”