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<\/a><\/p>\nAs one of the few holdouts of the Dominick Cruz and Jose Aldo GOAT candidacy in their respective divisions, what do Merab and Alexander Volkanovski have to do to achieve goat status in their divisions in your opinion?<\/p>\n
I touched on this last week<\/a>, but after Merab\u2019s latest win, it deserves a deeper dive.<\/p>\n Many people are saying (and have been saying) that Merab Dvalishvili is the bantamweight GOAT. Those people are incorrect. This is not a denigration of Dvalishvili, who I ranked as the top pound-for-pound fighter<\/a> in the sport, but an acknowledgment of the accomplishments of Dominick Cruz \u2014 incidentally, a fighter I hated at the time and still hold no love for.<\/p>\n First, it\u2019s important to distinguish between \u201cgreatest\u201d and \u201cbest,\u201d because they are not the same. The best fighter will almost always be the most recent champion, because things tend to improve over time. Prime Anderson Silva probably loses to prime Khamzat Chimaev, but no one would call Chimaev that Greatest, because \u201cgreatness\u201d is about accomplishment. And in combat sports, that means title reigns.<\/p>\n Merab Dvalishvili is great. Historically great. His three title defenses tie him with Aljamain Sterling for \u201cmost\u201d in UFC history, and Sterling had the weird title win scenario. Dvalishvili is clearly ahead of Aljo in the bantamweight GOAT conversation. But he\u2019s still not to Cruz.<\/p>\n While Cruz technically only has three UFC title defenses, he also has an additional two WEC title defenses, back when the WEC belt was the de facto UFC bantamweight title. And on top of that, he has his second title win, over T.J. Dillashaw, which came because Cruz was so injured he had to vacate the title. Any reasonable person should be able to agree that is six functional title defenses for Cruz (cannot include the Takeya Mizugaki fight because it wasn\u2019t for a belt and wasn\u2019t 5 rounds), twice as many as Dvalishvili.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve doubled someone up, you are historically greater. That seems self-evident to me. And this isn\u2019t exactly a Bill Russell vs. Michael Jordan debate where one era had six teams in it. Cruz has one Hall of Famer (twice) in that run, the possible GOAT (Demetrious Johnson), and two other guys who probably should make the Hall but won\u2019t (T.J. Dillashaw and Joseph Benavidez). Arguably, the weakest win of his was his initial title win over Brian Bowles. That\u2019s saying a good bit.<\/p>\n Now, I do believe Dvalishvili has opened the conversation, because he\u2019s firmly in the No. 2 spot in the debate. If he adds one more title defense to the pack, it becomes a real conversation, and if he adds two more, it\u2019s incontrovertible. And if he does that, the Dvalishvili conversation is no longer about where he ranks as a bantamweight, but where he ranks pound-for-pound all-time.<\/p>\n The sticking point for me in these GOAT debates is simple: people are way too quick to crown the next one. WE saw them do it with Israel Adesanya, and Kamaru Usman, and Alexander Volkanovski, and Max Holloway, and the list goes on, because when a fighter is having a moment, it feels like it will never end. Dvalishvili is at the peak of his powers right now, and it seems like he will never lose. Perhaps he won\u2019t, but everyone seems that way until it happens.<\/p>\n As for Volkanovski, it\u2019s really tricky. Personally, I\u2019m not sure he can surpass Aldo at this point. When Volkanovski was on his peak run, he clearly overtook second place, but he was still four title defenses back of Aldo. Then he lost the belt to Topuria, and now it\u2019s awkward, because this isn\u2019t the same run, and he\u2019s only the best featherweight by virtue of Topuria leaving the division. Honestly, it\u2019s very similar to when Aldo lost the belt but then won it back over Frankie Edgar after Conor McGregor left the division, and nobody really puts too much weight on that part of Aldo\u2019s career.<\/p>\n And the other issue is that, for as impressive as the Diego Lopes win was \u2014 it was very impressive \u2014 Lopes wasn\u2019t the next best guy. He was a fan favorite, but he had lost to Movsar Evloev, who was the top contender. So how much stock do we put in it? I honestly don\u2019t know. But plenty of people already want to call Volkanovski the GOAT (despite himself agreeing he is not), so any additional wins will only add to the fervor. If he beats Evloev and puts together another legit title reign at 145, he probably will take the title from Aldo, but I think he\u2019ll need at least one more defense after that to sell me on it. Can he do it? Maybe. But we\u2019ll have to see<\/p>\n Merab Dvalishvili\u2019s Lack of Finishing<\/p>\n Is it me or are most of Merab\u00b4s fights best characterized as \u201che won convincingly but I feel that his opponent can go to his day job the following morning\u201d? Aka is Merab The Greatest Fighter Who Does The Least Amount of Damage?<\/p>\n I feel like his opponents are mostly more tired\/frustrated than actually physically hurt – case in point the Jose Aldo fight.<\/p>\n This is the other critique of Dvalishvili\u2019s title reign: the lack of finishes. And while it\u2019s a bit disingenuous to suggest excitement doesn\u2019t matter, the truth is, it kind of doesn\u2019t. History has a way of flattening out context, and in 20 years, people won\u2019t have seen Merab fight; they\u2019ll just see the resume and the wins. The scoreboard is the scoreboard, and in the words of the great Dominic Toretto, it doesn\u2019t matter if you win by an inch or a mile; winning is winning<\/a>.<\/p>\n Plus, there is a downside to Merab\u2019s style. While Dvalishvili has thus far looked unstoppable, there will come a point when he is not. It happens to every great champion, where they have to dig deep and pull victory from the jaws of defeat. Hell, we just saw Jiri Prochazka do it against Khalil Rountree on Saturday. And in Merab\u2019s case, if he finds himself down 0-3 on the judges\u2019 scorecards heading into the championship rounds, he\u2019s cooked. Because he doesn\u2019t have \u2014 or chooses not to use \u2014 a game that prioritizes damage and finishing ability.<\/p>\n But you can\u2019t not his greatness because of it. The man is on an exceptional run and is very likely to end up as the GOAT bantamweight and a Top 10 all-time fighter. Even if he\u2019s not the most exciting fighter to watch.<\/p>\n Magomed Ankalaev\u2019s next fight<\/p>\n How screwed is Magomed Ankalaev for his next fight? Which LHW killer does he fight next?<\/p>\n Don\u2019t get me wrong, Ankalaev could hardly have done worse on Saturday. Not only did he lose, but he looked anemic, and it was the fastest win of Pereira\u2019s UFC career. That\u2019s right, even his KO of Sean Strickland came later than the trouncing Ankalaev just suffered. That\u2019s a bad look for Big Ank Time.<\/p>\n Fortunately, Pereira also provided Ankalaev with the path to his salvation. Because Pereira is not really interested in defending his light heavyweight title (he shouldn\u2019t be) and instead wants a superfight at heavyweight. Good! Go do that. Alex Pereira has done all he needs to at 205, and let\u2019s open light heavyweight back up to the masses. In the immediate future, that means Jiri vs. Carlos Ulberg for the vacant title, but for Ankalaev, as a former champion, he\u2019s right back in the mix with one win.<\/p>\n Jiri is 100% the greatest thing in the UFC. It\u2019s not a question but just a beautiful thing. Also once he just allows a little bit of his psycho to come out his accuracy is bonkers. Seen it in so many of his fights. He\u2019s a weirdsmobile surrounded by douche canoes.<\/p>\n There is a reason I call this man my large adult son and have done so for years. He is everything right with MMA, and should be carved onto the Mount Rushmore of action fighters alongside Justin Gaethje and Robbie Lawler. A true original and probably my favorite active fighter. I would die for that man, and I\u2019m glad everyone else is starting to realize there are more important things in MMA than \u201cgood\u201d (though Jiri is obviously very good). I hope he lives forever.<\/p>\n Thanks for reading, and thank you to everyone who sent in tweets (Xs?)! Do you have any burning questions about things at least somewhat related to combat sports? Then you\u2019re in luck, because you can send your tweets to me, @JedKMeshew<\/a>, and I will answer my favorite ones! Doesn\u2019t matter if they\u2019re topical or insane, just so long as they are good. Thanks again, and see y\u2019all next week.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n