Henry Cejudo has often touted himself as the greatest combat sports athlete of all time given his accolades as both a former UFC two-division champion and Olympic gold medalist wrestler, but he’s willing to concede one title to Merab Dvalishvili.
Dvalishvili showed why his nickname is “The Machine” this past Saturday night at UFC 311 where he outpointed previously undefeated Umar Nurmagomedov in an entertaining scrap to retain his bantamweight title at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif.
While it was only Dvalishvili’s first title defense, it was also his 12th win in a row dating back to September 2018. That impressive streak includes wins over Sean O’Malley, Petr Yan, Jose Aldo, Cejudo, and now Nurmagomedov, whom many considered his biggest threat.
When Cejudo considers the overall resume, he’s comfortable reaching the conclusion that Dvalishvili is the greatest bantamweight of all time.
“Yan, O’Malley, Cejudo, Umar, Moraes, Aldo. I mean, he’s fought everybody,” Cejudo said on his “Pound for Pound” podcast with Kamaru Usman. “He’s beat everybody in this division, you could say, in their prime. You just can, man. Merab is the bantamweight GOAT – at least in my eyes.
“He only has one title defense, but the people who he has beaten is great. It’s a great top-five resume maybe in UFC, period.”
Cejudo represented Dvalishvili’s 10th win in a row when they met in February 2024 at UFC 298. Dvalishvili outworked Cejudo with his wrestling to claim a unanimous decision that night.
It’s widely expected that Dvalishvili’s next title fight will be a rematch with O’Malley, whom he dominated at Noche UFC last September to claim the belt.
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