At UFC 311 last week, Merab Dvalishvili logged the first defense of his bantamweight title in a landmark upset victory over the highly-touted Umar Nurmagomedov. Receiving some harsh blows, and even losing a few grappling exchanges in the early goings of the contest, “The Machine” lived up to his namesake and poured on the pressure in the championship rounds.
By the time the fight was over, Nurmagomedov looked entirely gassed, while Dvalishvili seemed all too eager to continue.
The win extended the Georgian-born fighter’s win streak to 11 at 135-lb (12 overall) since losing his last contest to Ricky Simón back in 2018, the longest in the division’s history. Along his warpath toward championship greatness, Dvalishvili has racked up quite the impressive resume, including four previous UFC champions in José Aldo, Petr Yan, Henry Cejudo and Sean O’Malley.
This has led some to speculate just how close the Serra-Longo Fight Team product is to becoming the greatest bantamweight competitor of all time.
Comparing Resumes With Other Bantamweight Greats
Over the course of its 14 year history, the bantamweight division has been home to some of the top fighters on the UFC roster from multiple eras of the company like Renan Barão, Urijah Faber, Aljamain Sterling, and Dominick Cruz. The latter in particular has received high praise from fans and fighters as possibly the best 135-lb competitor to ever compete, having reigned over his weight class on two different occasions after being brought over from the World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC). In total, he reigned for a combined 1,465 days as champion.
A Jump To UFC Led To Fruitful Bantamweight Legacy For Dominick Cruz
After making two defenses of his WEC title, Dominick Cruz (along with many other notable athletes on the WEC roster) was brought in to the UFC after the promotion bought out the WEC in 2010. He was then instantly promoted to the undisputed UFC Bantamweight Champion and made his debut opposite old foe Urijah Faber, defeating him by unanimous decision at UFC 132. He then turned away future flyweight great Demetrious Johnson in his next outing before vacating the strap because of injuries.
Having been sidelined for almost three years, “The Dominator” made his return at UFC 178 by knocking out Takeya Mizugaki in one minute, earning him a title shot against then 135-lb king T.J. Dillashaw at UFC Fight Night 81. In one of the closest bouts in the division’s history, Cruz would just barely win back his strap by controversial split decision.
He then defended it once before being picked apart in a gigantic upset by Cody Garbrandt at UFC 207, and though he still remains on the roster at the time of this writing, he has yet to make it back to title contention.
Illegal Knee Jump-Starts Aljamain Sterling’s Impressive Reign
Arriving in the UFC after an extensive career on the regional scene where he won both the Ring of Combat and Cage Fury Fighting Bantamweight Championships (defending the latter three times), Aljamain Sterling made his debut at UFC 170.
There he locked horns with future Ultimate Fighter finalist Cody Gibson, beating him by unanimous decision. Over the next three years, “Funkmaster” became a strong prospect in the division, picking wins over established veterans like Takeya Mizugaki and Renan Barão and losing his only two defeats by split decision.
However, at UFC Fight Night 123, he wound up suffering his first stoppage loss to Marlon Moraes after colliding head first with the Brazilian’s knee after going for a takedown, instantly being knocked out.
Despite this rough setback, the New Yorker rebounded in glorious fashion by embarking on a five-fight win streak, taking down the likes of Jimmie Rivera, Pedro Munhoz and Cory Sandhagen. He was then pitted in his first UFC championship contest with Russian Muay Thai specialist Petr Yan at UFC 259.
While he started off the match strong by delivering several hard shots to the incumbent, Sterling noticeably began to tire after the first round and, slowly, “No Mercy” began to pick his challenger apart. By the fourth, Sterling was all but exhausted, but an illegal knee from Yan caused him to be disqualified after his opponent couldn’t continue, making Sterling the new bantamweight champion.
Although his time at the top got off to a rocky and controversial start, Sterling proceeded to go on a historic run as the 135-lb kingpin. Notching his first title defense in a rematch with Yan at UFC 273, he then recorded two more victories over former stars in T.J. Dillashaw and previous double champion Henry Cejudo.
This stretch of dominance earned Sterling the recognition of being the first UFC Bantamweight Champion to defend the belt three times in a row.
Standing as one of the pound-for-pound best fighters in the company, Sterling attempted to make his fourth title defense at UFC 292 versus fan-favorite striker Sean O’Malley. Although “Funk Master” was able to avoid the big shots from the challenger in round one, after making a costly gamble to jump at O’Malley with a punch, “Suga” found his mark and blasted Sterling on the chin with an explosive counter.
This left Sterling on the ground in a daze as his opponent pounced on him with brutal ground-and-pound, forcing the referee to intervene and end the contest.
With the loss of this belt, Sterling (after mentioning how to weight cut to 135-lb had gotten to be too much for him) opted instead to move up to featherweight, making his first appearance in the division at UFC 300 where he trounced Calvin Kattar by unanimous decision. He has since remained at 145-lb, with his last bout in the weight class being against the undefeated Movsar Evloev, who he lost to by unanimous decision.
Legendary Win Streak Catapults Merab Dvalishvili Into Bantamweight Greatness
After being recruited into the UFC in 2017 by CEO Dana White following a sensational knockout of Raufeon Stots with a spinning backfist, Merab Dvalishvili’s start in the promotion did not start off well. In fact, he lost his first two fights in a row to Frankie Saenz and Ricky Simón, losing by submission to the latter. It looked like the Georgian was not quite ready yet for the big leagues, but, completely reversing his fortunes, went on a massive win streak that he is still adding onto today at 12.
Beginning in 2018, “The Machine” has terrorized the UFC’s bantamweight class, utilizing his elite-level wrestling and cardio to record wins over the likes of Brad Katona, John Dodson, and Marlon Moraes. It was at UFC 278 where Dvalishvili was met with the first true test of his run in former featherweight champion José Aldo. Choosing to not engage the revered kickboxer on the feet, the European smothered Aldo with his grappling to wear on the 145-lb legend, eventually claiming a unanimous decision.
He followed this up by putting on a dominant performance against another top-tier striker and previous title holder, Petr Yan, at UFC Fight Night 221. Not giving the bantamweight great any chance to land any solid attacks, Dvalishvili spent nearly every second of the bout trying to take Yan down. In fact, by the time the contest was finished, he had attempted 49 takedowns, the most in UFC history in a single fight. He also landed over 200 strikes out of the 400 that he threw, comfortably achieving a trio of 50-45 scorecards across the board.
In 2024, Dvalishvili began to separate himself from the pack even more, starting at UFC 298, he picked up a huge win against former two-division champion Henry Cejudo. Rocking the Georgian early in the first round, it looked like Dvalishvili’s win streak was about to come to a shocking end. Rallying in the second, though, the Serra-Longo Fight Team representative put on the pressure, managing takedown after takedown on the Olympic gold medalist wrestler. By the time the final horn sounded, Dvalishvili had successfully picked off another earlier UFC champion by unanimous decision.
Then, to cap off a very productive year, he fought massive fan-favorite Sean O’Malley, who had already stolen the belt from his long-time friend and teammate Sterling, at UFC 306. Heading into the bout, many pundits expected the range of O’Malley’s attacks to give Dvalishvili a hard time closing the gap to initiate his takedown game.
However, throughout the 25-minute clash, “The Machine” found little difficulty in bringing O’Malley to the canvas and keeping him there. Although he did appear compromised after “Suga” landed a big kick to his body, Dvalishvili persevered and wound up claiming the unanimous decision victory to become the new UFC Bantamweight Champion.
In the first defense of his title, the newly-minted 135-lb king squared off with highly-touted Dagestani fighter Umar Nurmagomedov just recently at UFC 311. For months, the two had been at each other’s throats, with Dvalishvili claiming the Russian had not rightfully earned a title shot after beating just one ranked contender in Cory Sandhagen.
Come fight night, a wave of suspense had taken over the Intuit Dome in California, as Dvalishvili endeavored to notch the first successful defense of his strap against the undefeated challenger. Similar to his bout with Cejudo, the champion encountered a bit of adversity after Nurmagomedov scored a devastating right hand in the first round.
But, as the contest began to enter the championship rounds, the younger fighter noticeably looked fatigued, something that Dvalishvili’s coaches picked up on and told their fighter to increase his pressure. Relentlessly pursuing his foe, he broke down the Russian in the latter rounds, suffocating the equally great wrestler with non-stop takedown attempts, eventually earning the record for most takedowns in UFC history.
After an ultra-competitive battle, Dvalishvili had beaten another strong adversary and cemented his place amongst the top 135-lb competitors ever.
Who Is The Best UFC Bantamweight of All-Time?
In the discussion about who is the greatest bantamweight to ever do it, the three men mentioned above each have their own worthwhile arguments.
Counting his reign in the WEC and his two separate stints as champion in the UFC, Dominick Cruz has earned five total title defenses, the most any 135-lb competitor has earned in a major promotion. He also beat some of the best in his weight class at the time like Joseph Benavidez, twice, Urijah Faber, twice, and T.J. Dillashaw.
Unlike his fellow seasoned contemporaries, however, Cruz is still active on the UFC roster, and has continued to rack up wins despite his age, with him only now about to compete in his retirement fight at UFC Fight Night 252 next month.
In the case of Aljamain Sterling, while he doesn’t have the storied resume like Cruz does, he can boast three consecutive title defenses; a feat that no other previous UFC Bantamweight Champion had done before or since. He also defeated two men that Cruz had largely struggled to beat, T.J. Dillashaw and Henry Cejudo, knocking out the former in just over two rounds and defeating the latter by decision.
In the midst of the most unlikeliest of 135-lb sovereignties, Merab Dvalishvili has compiled a dazzling resume of victories over some of the most stalwart bantamweights in the world. From undefeated juggernauts to four former champions, the Georgian has demolished everyone put in front of him on his way to being hailed as a top fighter in the promotion.
At the moment, the argument for who is the greatest bantamweight is still up for debate, and we likely won’t know until Dvalishvili’s time at the top comes to an end. Though, seeing as how Cruz and Sterling are nearing the end of their careers (Sterling also doesn’t reside in the weight class anymore), if he can snag a few more title defenses, “The Machine” may just thrust himself into the forefront for that honor.