If Merab Dvalishvili has it his way, he’ll fight two more times in 2025. To put that into context, we are just about halfway through a year in which he’s already defended his bantamweight title twice. When they say that he’s a machine, they mean he isn’t altogether human. Jon Jones has fought just twice in the past five years, with a single title defense for his heavyweight belt. Getting him to take off his shoes is like getting a toddler on a sugar high to sit still for a picture.
You don’t have to coax Merab. He will sprint down rocky hillsides and jump headfirst into frozen lakes if there’s a willing dance partner waiting for him on the other side. In other words, everything a promoter could ever hope for, so long as he doesn’t kill himself with his eagerness getting to the fight.
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There was a lot of debate heading into UFC 316 as to whether Merab had achieved status as the bantamweight GOAT. The thing is, it’s getting hard to argue otherwise. On Saturday night he dispatched Sean O’Malley in their rematch, this time by turning himself into the blood-dimmed tide, attempting a dozen takedowns through three rounds knowing damn well that “Suga” Sean had sacrificed all his worldly vices to devise ways to thwart him. O’Malley fought off some of the attacks. But the attacks kept coming, until the third round when Merab got him with a north-south choke.
And that was all she wrote. Afterward O’Malley shook his head and said Merab is a “mother***er,” perhaps the highest compliment he could’ve paid.
When they talk about being in the business of breaking a fighter’s will, they are talking about Merab. Nobody presents a man his delusions back to himself as coldly. He breaks fighters long before he breaks a sweat. He tells you exactly what he’s going to do, and he does it. When he’s done, he climbs the fence and shakes hands with those who took the time to come out, just as gracious as you please. You get the sense he could have fought another 10 rounds, and it would have been his pleasure. Fighting is joyful.
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Unless you disrespect him, as the undefeated Umar Nurmagomedov did before they fought in January. Then it’s personal.
Is Merab the greatest bantamweight we’ve seen? He’s now won 13 straight fights, with a pair of title defenses. That last part doesn’t feel all that historic, but if you were to drop his title reign back a few names to start with Jose Aldo fight in 2022, it would look like one of the greatest title runs in history. Here’s his hit list over the past six fights: Aldo, Petr Yan, Henry Cejudo, O’Malley, Nurmagomedov, then O’Malley again.
Whether they were title fights or not, that’s what the old-timers used to call a “murderer’s row.” One of the greatest stretches on record.
And the terrifying truths are in the details. When he fought Yan, he scored 11 takedowns and more than doubled him in strikes. He rendered one of the closest contenders to him at present completely helpless.
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O’Malley tried to stay as long as he could. And he tried to stay low when Merab shot. He circled Merab on an endless loop, searching for a port of entry. Looking for a weak point. But when he did throw punches, he was swinging at a gathering tempest. He hopped on one leg, sprawled, slipped his arms under the vines that were closing in around him, but it was all survival. Next thing he knew he was flung over the sadist’s shoulders and dumped on the canvas, the ring lights at the Pru huddling over as if to mock him.
Merab Dvalishvili did whatever he wanted against Sean O’Malley in their rematch. (Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images)
(IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect / Reuters)
Poof. Just like that. Six months of abstinences went up in smoke.
The thing that was always coming for him, got him.
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Now it looks like Merab’s going to get Cory Sandhagen next, one of the few contenders he hasn’t already faced. Sandhagen was on hand in Newark on Saturday, dressed like he had a handful of loose granola in his flannel pocket, finally having arrived at the moment when he’s the clear next. Yet if there’s ever been a “be careful what you wish for” proposition, this is it. That’s a demon-strength force he’ll be dealing with, who has left behind him a funnel cloud of tortured souls.
Dominick Cruz was the original bar of excellence. He bewitched opponents for many years going back to the WEC days and into the UFC, yet injuries wreaked havoc on his career. Renan Barao, T.J. Dillashaw, Cejudo, Cody Garbrandt, Aljamain Sterling — there have been some good champions at 135 pounds. But nobody quite like Merab.
He’d like to get that Sandhagen fight the sooner the better, because to have four title defenses in 2025 means to stay busy. What he’s doing feels unreal in a world where so many champions are content to hold up their divisions. Merab wants to beat everyone in his proximity, and when that’s done, start the process over again. He’s going to have to start doubling up.
Rematches with Petr Yan and Umar Nurmagomedov loom in the not too distance future. And you know what? For a guy who has no quit like Merab, that’s exactly what the UFC should want him to do.
To just keep going.
