UFC 320 is just around the corner, and while Alex Pereira reclaiming the light heavyweight title is dominating the headlines, the co-main event was just as important. Merab Dvalishvili made his third successful title defense of the year, securing a decision win over Cory Sandhagen and cementing his place as perhaps the 2025 Fighter of the Year.
But is he the bantamweight GOAT? And how long will it take him to climb that mountain? Let’s talk.
GOAT candidate and Merab Dvalishvili
As one of the few who stopped Dominick Cruz and Jose Aldo from GOAT candidacy in their respective divisions, what do you think Merab and Alexander Volkanovski have to do to earn goat status in their divisions?
We touched on this last week, but following Merab’s recent win, it’s worth digging deeper into.
Many have said (and continue to say) that Merab Dvalishvili is the GOAT of the bantamweight division. Those people are wrong. This is not to disparage Dvalishvili, who I would rank among the top pound-for-pound fighters in the sport, but to give credit to Dominick Cruz. By the way, Dominick Cruz is a fighter that I hated then and still don’t love now.
First, it’s important to differentiate between “best” and “best” because they are not the same thing. Things tend to improve over time, so the best fighters are almost always the newest champions. Prime Minister Anderson Silva will probably lose to Prime Minister Khamzat Chimaev, but no one would call Chimaev the “greatest” because “greatness” means accomplishment. And in martial arts, that means titles reign.
Merab Dvalishvili is amazing. Historically wonderful. His three title defenses are tied with Aljamain Sterling for the most in UFC history, and Sterling had a strange title-winning scenario. Dvalishvili is clearly In the bantamweight GOAT conversation, he’s ahead of Arjo. But he hasn’t cruised yet.
On a cruise technically Although he has only defended the UFC title three times, he has defended the WEC title twice more, back when the WEC belt was the de facto UFC bantamweight title. In addition, he defeated TJ Dillashaw to win the title for the second time, which came after Cruz suffered a serious injury and had to vacate the title. Any sane person would agree that Cruz has effectively defended his title six times (not including the fight against Kenya Mizugaki because it wasn’t for a belt and it wasn’t five rounds), twice as many as Dvalishvili.
If you double someone, you become historically greater. That seems obvious to me. And this is a far cry from the Bill Russell vs. Michael Jordan debate, where there were six teams in one era. Cruz has one Hall of Famer in his race (twice), a player who could be the GOAT (Demetrious Johnson), and two others who probably should be in the Hall of Fame but won’t (TJ Dillashaw and Joseph Benavidez). Perhaps his weakest win was his first title win over Brian Bowles. That’s saying something good.
Now, I’m sure Dvalishvili started the conversation. Because he is firmly in the second place in the discussion. If he adds one more title defense to the pack, it becomes a real conversation, and if he adds two more, it’s moot. And if he does that, the conversation about Dvalishvili will no longer be about where he ranks as a bantamweight, but where he ranks in the all-time pound-for-pound rankings.
What fascinates me about these GOAT discussions is simple. It’s that people are too quick to move on to the next discussion. We’ve seen them do it with Israel Adesanya, Kamaru Usman, Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway, and the list goes on, because when a fighter has a moment, it feels like it’ll never end. Dvalishvili is now at the peak of his powers and looks like he will never lose. Maybe he won’t, but until it happens everyone looks that way.
As for Volkanovski, it’s really difficult. Personally, I don’t know if he can surpass Aldo at this point. When Volkanovski was at his peak, he clearly overtook him for second place, but still fell short of Aldo in four title defenses. Then he lost the belt to Topuria, and now things are getting awkward. Because this is not the same run and he only became the best featherweight because of Topuria leaving the division. To be honest, this is a lot like when Aldo lost the belt but got it back to Frankie Edgar after Conor McGregor left the division, and no one puts too much weight into that part of Aldo’s career.
And the other problem is that while Diego Lopez’s win was impressive, and it was very impressive, Lopez wasn’t the next best player. He was a fan favorite but lost to top contender Movsar Evloev. So, how much inventory should we keep? To be honest, I don’t know. But many already want to call Volkanovski the GOAT (even though he himself agrees he’s not), so any more wins would only increase the enthusiasm even further. If he beats Evloev and wraps up another legitimate title reign at 145, he’ll probably take the title away from Aldo, but I think he’ll need at least one more defense after that to sell it to me. can he do it? perhaps. But you have to see
Merab Dvalishvililack of finish

Is it me, or are most of Merab’s matches best characterized as “he wins convincingly, but his opponent feels like he can go about his business the next morning”? Another name is Merab. The strongest warrior with the least damage?
The Jose Aldo fight is a great example of this, but I think his opponents were more likely to be tired and frustrated than actually physically hurt.
This is another criticism of Dvalishvili’s title reign: lack of finishing. It’s a little disingenuous to say that excitement isn’t important, but the truth is, it’s not. History has a way of flattening context, and in 20 years people won’t even be seeing the Battle of Merab. They just look at resumes and wins. A scoreboard is a scoreboard, and in the words of the great Dominic Toretto, it doesn’t matter if you win by an inch or a mile. A win is a win.
Additionally, Merab’s style has its drawbacks. Dvalishvili seems unstoppable for now, but there will come a time when he will be unstoppable. As happens with all great champions, they have to dig deep and pull victory from the jaws of defeat. No, I just watched Jiri Prochazka play against Khalil Rountree on Saturday. And in Merab’s case, once he found himself trailing 0-3 on the judges’ scorecards heading into the championship round, he was done. Because he doesn’t have or chooses not to use his game to prioritize damage and finishing ability.
But that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate his greatness. This guy is doing exceptionally well and could very well be the GOAT bantamweight and a top 10 fighter of all time. Even if he wasn’t the most exciting fighter to watch.
Magomed Ankalaev’s next fight

How bad is Magomed Ankalaev for his next fight? Which LHW killer will he fight next?
Don’t get me wrong, Ankalaev couldn’t have done better on Saturday. Not only did he lose, he was anemic, but this was the fastest win of Pereira’s UFC career. That’s right, even Sean Strickland’s KO was slower than the beaten Ankalaev suffered. That’s a bad look for Big Ank Time.
Fortunately, Pereira also gave Ankalaev a path to salvation. That’s because Pereira isn’t really interested in defending his light heavyweight title (which he shouldn’t be) and instead wants a superfight at heavyweight. good! Please do that. Alex Pereira has done everything he was supposed to do at 205 years old, open up the light heavyweight division to the masses again. In the near future, that means Jiri vs. Carlos Ulberg for the vacant title, but for former champion Ankalaev, one win would be a quick return to action.

Illi is 100% the greatest in the UFC. That’s not a question, it’s just a beautiful thing. Also, once you let his psycho side out a little bit, his accuracy is incredible. We saw it in many of his fights. He is a strange mobile surrounded by douche canoes.
There’s a reason I call this man my big adult son and have done so for years. He’s totally fine when it comes to MMA and should be carved into the Mount Rushmore of action fighters alongside Justin Gaethje and Robbie Lawler. A true original and probably my favorite active fighter. I would die for that guy and I’m glad everyone else is starting to realize that there’s more to MMA than being “good” (although Giri is clearly very good). I hope he lives forever.
Thank you for reading, and thank you to everyone who sent tweets (x?)! Do you have any burning questions, at least somewhat related to martial arts? Please send me your tweets. @JedKMeshewanswer what I like! It doesn’t matter if it’s topical or insane. It’s fine if it’s good. Thank you again. See you next week.