Following his only second title defense at UFC 316 over the weekend, bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili is making a strong case for being the Greatest of All Time at the 135 lbs limit. His UFC 316 fight over Sean O’Malley was a chance of redemption for the American, who had a hip surgery scheduled when they first fought last year at UFC 306.
But with this submission win, Merab not only has left doubt in the dust, he’s also done so with a bolder display of dominance over the former champion.
His striking looked far evolved than it had during his previous fights. And while he did make O’Malley suffer through it, the story was always going to be about his endless cardio, repeated takedowns, and ground control through high-pressure chain wrestling.
Needless to say, as he succeeded in delivering on all these accounts, so began the inevitable comparisons with former lightweight champion and 29-0 Dagestani legend, Khabib Nurmagomedov.
UFC analyst and former middleweight title contender, Chael Sonnen asserted, “That son of a b*tch has won 13 in a row. We are seeing guys, who are dominant in one position. Khabib comes to mind, Merab.”
Sonnen then explained what he meant: “They’re so dominant at one thing that they can go out and do that one thing regardless of what is being done back to them.” Merab is now reaching the same levels as Khabib in terms of dominance.
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His 13-fight win streak has him at par with Khabib Nurmagomedov, and Georges St-Pierre. The only current fighter on the UFC roster with a better streak is pound-for-pound number 1, Islam Makhachev on a comfortable 15.
Furthermore, Sonnen also highlighted that Merab’s resume was impressive enough to give him GOAT status in the bantamweight division.
Fans crown Merab the Bantamweight GOAT
Dvalishvili has an insane story, from getting picked up by Dana White in his series ‘Lookin for a fight’, to losing his first 2 UFC bouts. Fighters who end up losing 2 in a row after making the switch to the UFC don’t usually last very long in the company.
But the exact opposite happened with ‘The Machine‘, he has since beaten former Olympic champions like Henry Cejudo, and bantamweight champions like O’Malley and Jose Aldo with relative ease.
“Still thinking about how dominant Merab is. Dude is the bantamweight goat and I think we still have a long run from him. This guy is just different,” said a fan, who doesn’t see anyone dethroning him anytime soon.
Still thinking about how dominant Merab is. Dude is the bantamweight goat and I think we still have a long run from him. This guy is just different pic.twitter.com/FY6SrDTNTt
— Adam Kallas (@AdamKallas) June 8, 2025
According to a second fan, he is only one win away from eclipsing Khabib, “One more defense and Merab is easily higher in the GOAT debate than Khabib Bantamweight already.” With his next opponent as good as confirmed, Merab will be eager to get back into the octagon and defend his belt again.
A third fan came up with an interesting matchup that could see two of the sport’s most dominant fighters at the moment go after each other, “Yeah, Merab is the 135 GOAT. Pls, Pantoja next.”
While it is unlikely Merab is willing to go further down in weight classes, he could perhaps be interested in a fight with 145 lbs champion Alexander Volkanovski — a very dangerous opponent for someone of Merab’s style of fighting.
