MMA Pound-for-Pound Rankings: How close is Merab Dvalishvili to being No. 1?
Merab Dvalishvili didn’t just successfully defend his title at UFC 311, he proved he’s as good as any fighter on the planet.
Oddsmakers had Dvalishvili dropping the bantamweight belt to the undefeated Umar Nurmagomedov on Saturday, but “The Machine” flipped the script in impressive fashion, outlasting the favored Nurmagomedov to win a thrilling decision. Dvalishvili typically doesn’t get as much credit for his technical acumen as some of his fellow UFC champions, but he reminded everyone that having a 50-round gas tank and being impossible to finish is a pretty great base for MMA.
For his efforts, Dvalishvili has been rewarded with a top-5 spot in the MMA Fighting Pound-for-Pound Rankings. That’s no small feat when you consider the names he’s overtaking after entering UFC 311 at No. 9 on our list:
- Belal Muhammad: UFC welterweight champion, 11-fight unbeaten streak
- Dricus du Plessis: UFC middleweight champion, 8-0 in UFC with consecutive wins over Israel Adesanya, Sean Strickland, and Robert Whittaker
- Tom Aspinall: interim UFC heavyweight champion, MMA Fighting’s No. 1-ranked heavyweight
- Jon Jones: he hardly fights anymore, but he’s freakin’ Jon Jones!
Dvalishvili has won 12 straight fights and knocked off numerous top-10 opponents including Sean O’Malley, Petr Yan, and Marlon Moraes, not to mention future UFC Hall of Famers Jose Aldo and Henry Cejudo. Then he caps that run off with an upset (sounds ridiculous in retrospect, doesn’t it?) of Nurmagomedov? If anything, No. 5 might be too low for the bantamweight king at this point.
Consider this: If Dvalishvili’s close friend Aljamain Sterling hadn’t been at the top of the division for so long, it’s entirely possible Dvalishvili captures the title years earlier, and then several of those notable wins I just mentioned are also championship defenses. If Dvalishvili were on a streak of three or four straight defenses, how high on the pound-for-pound list would he be then?
Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 1 Islam Makhachev def. Renato Moicano, No. 9 Merab Dvalishvili def. Umar Nurmagomedov
Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 2 Alex Pereira vs. Magomed Ankalaev (UFC 313, March 8), No. 6 Dricus du Plessis vs. No. 17 Sean Strickland (UFC 312, Feb. 8), No. 12 Leon Edwards vs. Jack Della Maddalena (UFC London, March 22)
Fighters also receiving votes: Israel Adesanya (3), Aljamain Sterling (3), Patricio Pitbull (2), Magomed Ankalaev (1), Usman Nurmagomedov (1), Kamaru Usman (1)
Lastly, a refresher on some ground rules:
- The six-person voting panel consists of MMA Fighting staffers Alexander K. Lee, Guilherme Cruz, Mike Heck, E. Casey Leydon, Damon Martin and Jed Meshew.
- Updates to the rankings will be completed following every UFC pay-per-view. Fighters will be removed from the rankings if they do not compete within 18 months of their most recent bout.
- Should a fighter announce their retirement, our panel will decide whether that fighter should immediately be removed from the rankings or maintain their position until further notice (let’s put it this way: we’d have taken Khabib Nurmagomedov out of our rankings a lot quicker than the UFC did).
As a reminder, the notion of pound-for-pound supremacy is always going to inherently be subjective. When you’re debating whether someone like Sean Strickland should be ranked above someone like Charles Oliveira, there is no true right answer. In other words: It’s not serious business, folks.
Thoughts? Questions? Concerns? Make your voice heard in the comments below.