UFC 311 mailbag: Where do Islam Makhachev and Merab Dvalishvili belong on the list of GOATs?

Islam Makhachev | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

UFC 311 is in the books and the champions remain the same.

On Saturday, Islam Makhachev and Merab Dvalishvili retained their titles, defeating Renato Moicano and Umar Nurmagomedov, respectively. For Makhachev it was another sensational performance against a late replacement, while for Dvalishvili it was a display of just what makes him great, and an opportunity to prove the doubters wrong.

So after such great performances, let’s talk about both men and their legacies in the sport.

Islam Makhachev

“With Islam and 155, are we at the point of semantics with his all time placing? Khabib is better (we think) as a fighter, but Islam is now greater by virtue of accomplishment. Islam’s 1 loss outweighed by the extra title defense sort of thing. Also, if not Arman, who next?”

There’s a lot to unpack with Islam following his win on Saturday, but let’s start with the assertion that Khabib Nurmagomedov is better than Islam, because I don’t think that’s true. Yes, as training partners it was clearly established Khabib was the superior fighter, but that was pre-prime Islam versus peak Khabib. I believe there is a very serious question as to who is the “better” fighter if you’re matching peak for peak. Khabib is the more explosive and powerful athlete, but Islam is more technically refined and certainly has a more diverse set of skills. If I had to guess, I’d actually venture that Islam is the better of the two.

On the other hand, it’s pretty clear to me that Khabib is the more accomplished of the two, at least at the moment. Going undefeated is obviously an incredible feather in his cap, but more than that it’s the quality of his title reign. Khabib beat three champions while holding the belt, and did so dominantly. In contrast, Makhachev’s defenses are two against a featherweight (yes, a pound-for-pound great but still) with one of those being on short notice, a past-his-prime great who Khabib beat better, and now a top-10 lightweight who was also on short notice. It’s not Makhachev’s fault things broke like this, but it’s not the same quality by a long stretch.

On top of that, “greatness” is also about narrative. The one loss matters, the fact that he was secondary to Khabib when they were at the same gym matters, and Khabib serving as the vanguard and figurehead of the Dagestan takeover matters. All of that tilts the lightweight GOAT argument in favor of Khabib. But that doesn’t mean he’ll always have it. Setting the record for lightweight title defenses, in my mind, officially moves Islam past B.J. Penn into the No. 2 spot and opens the floor for discussion. If he picks up one or two more, Islam will take the belt.

As far as who is next, my guess is Charles Oliveira? I don’t love it, but Oliveira is the No. 2 guy and coming off a win. Plus, he was supposed to get a rematch but then Tsarukyan’d himself out of it, so now they can do that. It’s a good fight and honestly, it doesn’t really matter. I just want to see the best fighter on the planet continue to fight top opposition.

Picking Nits

“When Makhachev gets nuked by a relevant lightweight, how angry will people be looking back on his title reign?”

Sir, we can always critique a title reign (and I think we should!) but let’s be a little sensible about things. It’s not like Makhachev has been smashing cans. Makhachev has wins over five of the lightweight top-10 right now, plus a pair of wins over the No. 11 pound-for-pound fighter in Alexander Volkanovski. The circumstances may not be optimal but these are relevant lightweights. Islam just happens to have his career coincide with a period where the top of his division is populated with a lot of old names. Jon Jones had the same thing happen. Sometimes it’s just how the cookie crumbles.

Furthermore, what lightweight is going to nuke him? Renato Moicano is a damn good fighter and he lasted only slightly longer than you or I would have. Arman Tsarukyan is the best hope, obviously, but he was also a massive underdog heading into that rematch and I see no reason to think Makhachev is falling off.

Yes, it’s a little wonky, but we are currently watching one of the greatest fighters of all time compete and we should all sit back and enjoy it because you never know how long that will last.

Merab Dvalishvili

“What did experts get wrong about Umar vs. Merab wrong?”

It’s me. I’m the “experts.” I picked Umar to beat Merab on Saturday and boy was I wrong.

I can’t speak for all the experts who picked Umar but for myself, I think I got two things wrong about this fight, one that I at least knew I could be wrong about and one I was not at all prepared for.

The one thing I didn’t factor in at all was Merab’s ability to compete on the feet. To put it plainly, Merab is not a good striker and Umar is a pretty good one, and that’s how things played out on Saturday — until they didn’t. I was under the impression that Umar would make things much more difficult on Merab in the striking portion of things, working the body and the jab, and hitting him a lot, and early on there was some of that, but as the rounds drew on that fell off steeply. Merab’s willingness to take one to give one and his constant work rate stymied Umar more than I thought. I’m sure Umar would like to blame that on the broken hand, but that’s the game. Shit happens, adapt and overcome. He didn’t.

The thing that I thought could happen but I wasn’t anticipating was that Merab could simply do his style through Umar opposition. Sure, Umar stuffed takedowns and hit Merab frequently on the feet, but the champion simply just kept coming. He forced Umar to work constantly and while he could win a few rounds by being able to keep up and being technically superior, eventually he faltered. Merab did not falter. Make no mistake, this is a pretty bad matchup for Merab on paper, but he simply pushed through it with effort. I won’t pretend to enjoy Merab’s style because I don’t, but it is undeniably incredibly impressive.

Merab’s legacy

“Not talking GOAT, but is Merab the best bantamweight ever? T.J.’s best performances were more flawless, but I feel like Merab head to head beats every other all time bantamweight.”

This is a really hard question for me to answer as someone who doesn’t care for Merab’s style. It’s undeniably effective but just not for me. I don’t watch crossfit despite that being incredibly impressive, and that’s kind of what Merab’s game is: turning everything into a test of cardio and will.

So with that preface, accept that I may be a bit biased when I say I think T.J. Dillashaw is still the best bantamweight I’ve ever seen. At the peak of his powers, Dillashaw was one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport, and I think would give Merab a very hard fight. That being said, I thought Umar would also and that was not the case. (Also, there’s the whole PED stuff that comes with Dillashaw but I don’t personally care about that.) It’s entirely possible Merab would Merab him the same as everyone else.

However, I do think the topic of bantamweight GOAT is quickly coming into frame for Merab. He’s current run is the best run in divisional history and the only real knock on his case is tenure. Merab only has one title defense, which makes it hard to put him even above someone like Aljamain Sterling in the conversation, much less Dominick Cruz, but those defenses are coming.

It seems like Merab’s next to opponents will be rematches with Sean O’Malley and Petr Yan. Considering how he dominated both the first time around, there’s a strong chance Merab has three title defenses under his belt before 2026, and if that’s the case, that’s probably GOAT done and dusted. Dominick Cruz officially has four bantamweight title defenses (including WEC defenses, which obviously should count) and really five since he didn’t lose his belt in the cage, and beat T.J. Dillashaw to reclaim the title. Merab’s three plus the strength of the rest of his resume puts him at No. 1 all time if he can have a strong year.

Champ champ

“How would a fight between Alexandre Pantoja and Merab play out?”

Same as every Merab fight: Dvalishvili by unanimous decision.

At this point it should be pretty clear that the only way to beat Merab is to finish him and for as good as Pants is, that seems unlikely. He would get Merab’d super hard.

Fight of the Night

“Was Umar vs Merab really the FOTN? Wasn’t Jiri vs Hill better?”

Obviously it wasn’t Fight of the Night. Merab vs. Umar was a high-level, interesting fight that was made to be better by the fact that Merab pulled off the upset. On a weak card, that would be a fine Fight of the Night choice. But nobody is going to go back and watch that one repeatedly for fun.

Jiri Prochazka vs. Jamahal Hill was total anarchy from the opening bell, with big momentum swings culminating in a finish. Numbers don’t always tell the story, Jiri vs. Jamahal had only marginally fewer significant strikes in roughly half the time of the main event, had two knockdowns, and a finish. That fight was fun to watch if you knew nothing about fighting. Merab vs. Umar was impressive to watch, but fun wasn’t exactly on the menu.

Jamahal Hill got robbed of $50,000.

Thanks for reading and thanks to everyone who sent in tweets (Xs?)! Do you have any burning questions about things at least somewhat related to combat sports? Then you’re in luck because you can send your tweets to me, @JedKMeshew, and I will answer my favorite ones! It doesn’t matter if they’re topical or insane, just so long as they are good. Thanks again, and see y’all next week.