The Octagon returned to Newark, New Jersey on Saturday night where a list of fighters that includes Jon Jones added a new name into the fold.
Following his comments about Francis Ngannou and Tom Aspinall, Jones had been a talking point all the way through fight week.
This only continued to be the case following Dana White’s update about Jones’ current status, claiming that the heavyweight champion already agreed to fight again.
While the public perception surrounding ‘Bones’ might not be overly high right now, his accomplishments inside the Octagon speak for themselves.
He holds one of the promotion’s greatest ever win streaks, which one of the stars of UFC 316 was able to match on Saturday night.
Jon Jones congratulates Merab Dvalishvili after he records his 13th consecutive win inside the Octagon
With his submission win over Sean O’Malley at UFC 316, Merab Dvalishvili earned his second successful defense of the bantamweight title.
The victory also saw him record his 13th consecutive win inside the Octagon, which is an accomplishment that very few fighters have been able to achieve.
Beating the likes of O’Malley, Umar Nurmagomedov and Henry Cejudo has put Dvalishvili alongside Jon Jones, Georges St-Pierre, Demetrious Johnson, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Max Holloway, who all won 13 fights in a row.
Only Kamaru Usman, Islam Makhachev (15 wins) and the record holder, Anderson Silva (16 wins), have been able to produce longer streaks.
Jones, whose streak ended when his UFC 214 rematch with Daniel Cormier was ruled a no contest, congratulated Dvalishvili via a post on social media after UFC 316, welcoming him into the 13-fight club.
Several big names fell just short of the 13-fight win streak club that Merab Dvalishvili has now joined
Just underneath the likes of Merab Dvalishvili and Jon Jones are several fighters who produced 12 consecutive wins before their streaks were ended.
Amanda Nunes’ shocking loss to Julianna Pena at UFC 269 ended her run before she avenged the defeat in their rematch at UFC 277.
Tony Ferguson’s reign of terror in the lightweight division came crumbling down in his one-sided loss to Justin Gaethje before he recorded the most consecutive defeats in UFC history.
Alexander Volkanovski’s first UFC loss came at the hands of Islam Makhachev when he dared to be great by moving up to lightweight at UFC 284, losing a unanimous decision to the pound-for-pound king.