UFC featherweight and former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling has explained why he considers Merab Dvalishvili the greatest of all time at 135 pounds.
This year was going to be something very special for Merab Dvalishvili. After winning the bantamweight championship last year, he successfully retained it three times against Umar Nurmagomedov, Sean O’Malley and Cory Sandhagen. Unfortunately, he dared to be great and went looking for another victory against Petr Yan, but in the main event of UFC 323 he came up short and lost the title.
While some have still opted to name him Fighter of the Year, Merab Dvalishvili will be the first to say he needs to go back to the drawing board to figure out exactly what went wrong in the Yan rematch. Of course, Aljamain Sterling knows what it feels like to face Yan, having technically defeated him twice during his own run at the top of the bantamweight division.
In a message on social mediaone fan suggested that Aljamain was the real bantamweight GOAT before his friend Merab Dvalishvili. But ultimately, Sterling explained why he doesn’t believe that’s the case.
Aljamain Sterling calls Merab Dvalishvili the bantamweight GOAT
Fan: “@MerabDvalishvil just wanted to let you know that @funkmasterMMA is the BW goat”
Sterling: “I would say Merab surpasses me just by the number of consecutive wins.”
Sterling has always been a pretty honest guy, and it’s nice to see him take over Merab in this way. Right now, though, both men need a big performance to kick-start 2026 as they look to reach the top of their respective divisions once again and further cement the great legacy they’ve built for themselves.
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