Henry Cejudo is considered one of the best fighters ever considering his achievement of becoming double UFC champion but he has named Merab Dvalishvili the GOAT of his own division.
This past Saturday at UFC 311, Merab Dvalishvili successfully defended his bantamweight title for the first time when he picked up a unanimous decision victory against the undefeated Umar Nurmagomedov.
‘The Machine’ went into the fight as the underdog despite being the defending champion but once again showcased his weaponized cardio in rounds three, four, and five, dominating the Russian.
Henry Cejudo names Merab Dvalishvili his bantamweight GOAT following UFC 311
There was a lot of expectation from a large majority of the UFC fanbase that Nurmagomedov was going to retain his undefeated record whilst becoming the new bantamweight champion at UFC 311.
That notion was also agreed with by former bantamweight champion, Henry Cejudo who picked Umar to beat Dvalishvili before the fight.
However, following the Georgian’s history-making performance where he overtook Georges St-Pierre for the most amount of takedowns in UFC history, Cejudo admitted that he now considers ‘The Machine’ as the greatest bantamweight fighter of all time.
The Olympic gold medalist shared the Octagon with Dvalishvili back at UFC 298 and Merab surprisingly dominated Cejudo with his relentless wrestling pressure.
Cejudo is just one of several big names Dvalishvili has gone through in his summit to the top of the division as he has also taken out Jose Aldo, Petr Yan, and Sean O’Malley, who could be his next title challenge.
“You’ve got to give him his flowers and I can say, I was wrong,” Cejudo said on the Pound 4 Pound Podcast.
“Merab got another level of respect for me for what he was able to do. He beat a young 29-year-old who was undefeated… This was probably one of the greatest bantamweight fights of all time… Merab is the real deal man, he’s the best in the world for a reason.
“I feel like at this point though, you’ve got to put him in at least pound-for-pound top three… I eat my words… I don’t feel so damn bad for losing anymore. Yeah, you have to (call him the bantamweight GOAT) man.
“Yan, O’Malley, Cejudo, Umar, (Marlon) Moraes, Aldo, I mean, he’s fought everybody, dude. He’s beaten everyone in this division in you can say their prime. Merab is the bantamweight GOAT, man, at least in my eyes,” Cejudo admitted.
Merab Dvalishvili doesn’t agree that he is the bantamweight GOAT
Despite the growing popularity of Merab, following his UFC 311 win, he was asked if he considers himself in the bantamweight GOAT conversation and provided a surprising answer.
“No, Aljamain Sterling is the greatest, and don’t forget Dominick Cruz is still one of the greatest,” Dvalishvili claimed.
Aljamain Sterling‘s friendship with Dvalishvili is well-documented and it seemingly caused issues for him and the UFC during his time as champion as he refused to fight Merab.
Dominick Cruz is still regarded by many to be the greatest bantamweight of all time for his long reign as champion, beating the likes of Demetrious Johnson and TJ Dillashaw.