Merab Dvalishvili is on a legendary hot streak right now, one that has some comparing him to arguably the greatest fighter of all time.
Following Dvalishvili’s dominant win over Cory Sandhagen at UFC 320
this past Saturday, Kenny Florian spoke about the reigning bantamweight champion’s incredible string of performances along with co-host Jon Anik and one of Dvalishvili’s coaches Ray Longo. “The Machine” has now won 14 straight fights, moving him into fourth place for the longest win streak in UFC history, trailing only Islam Makhachev (15), Kamaru Usman (15), and Anderson Silva (16).
Discussing what’s left for him to do in his division, Florian compared Dvalishvili to former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, who went undefeated in 29 pro fights.
“I think his biggest threat lies outside of the division at 145 pounds,” Florian said on The Anik & Florian Podcast. “I heard [coach John Wood] talking about him potentially going up to 145, I don’t know if it was in the near future or not, but I don’t see anybody as of right now—again, I’m really curious about that upcoming fight with Umar [Nurmagomedov] and Mario Bautista. If [Bautista] can put it together and show that he can truly counter-wrestle, I think he’s a legitimate threat.
“But other than that, I don’t know. [Dvalishvili] is the Khabib at 135 pounds, really.”
Dvalishvili has actually surpassed Nurmagomedov’s UFC win streak, with “The Eagle” having retired in 2020 after notching a third straight lightweight title defense in his 13th fight for the promotion. Nurmagomedov showed no signs of slowing down when he called it a career, but was motivated to step away from competition after promising his mother he would not continue fighting following the death of his father and coach Abdulmanap.
Like Nurmagomedov, Dvalishvili is renowned for his unstoppable wrestling, but he has also shown rapid improvement in all aspects of his game. Beyond that, Longo believes there are winning qualities Dvalishvili possesses that are simply inherent in the Georgia native.
“It’s the intangibles that you can’t train,” Longo said. “He loves what he’s doing. I think now that it’s part almost like the Mike Tyson thing now. Cory said his coach said, ‘He’s human, too, he’s going to get tired like everybody else.’ Yeah, I don’t know about that.
“He is going to get tired eventually, but you’ve got to break him. Can you get him to get more tired than you? That’s the question and that’s going to be a hard thing to do because he’s too comfortable in there. He’s got a great outlook on life. He’s got a great outlook on fighting and the more he goes, the more confidence he gets.”
Anik is also unsure of how much more Dvalishvili can build his legacy at 135 pounds given that he has already fought and defeated the current crop of contenders, including Petr Yan, who Dvalishvili has suggested he’d like to face in a rematch this December to set the record for most successful UFC title defenses in a year (4).
Should Dvalishvili accomplish that feat, Anik believes the next lineup of challengers are ill-prepared to halt Dvalishvili’s dominance.
“There’s going to be somebody who emerges, if he keeps being champion, as the No. 1 contender and they’re just going to get absolutely mauled in Round 1 because they’re not nearly as good as Cory Sandhagen,” Anik said. “He was 20 of 37 on takedowns. He threw 399 strikes.
“Singularly, I can think of a few of these performances where guys had no shot because of just all the offense coming back their way and Merab has probably seven of the top 10 most impressive performances across the board in terms of overall offensive volume in MMA. … It is so amazing to watch this man. Go see Merab live. Star of the show.”
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VIDEO STEW
On To the Next One.
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FLAVOR IN YOUR EAR
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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE
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Congratulations!
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Stoppage after the stoppage.
Home.
Taking a break.
FINAL THOUGHTS
In my opinion, Cory Sandhagen put on one of the best performances of his career and still wasn’t all that close to beating Merab Dvalishvili. That’s just the harsh reality of the situation.
I do find it a bit reductive to compare Merab to Khabib just because they’re both wrestlers that put together crazy win streaks, but the truth is, if Dvalishvili can keep this going for another couple of years, I don’t think many will argue that he has a chance to surpass Khabib on the all-time lists. — Lee
EXIT POLL
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