BKFC fighter and former rival of TJ Dillashaw weighs in on bantamweight GOAT debate amid Merab Dvalishvili's ongoing unmatched dominance
Merab Dvalishvili and TJ Dillashaw are two fighters in the conversation for MMA's bantamweight GOAT status, and the latter's former opponent has weighed in on this debate. Appearing on a recent episode of Bare Knuckle Bowker, Dustin Pague covered several subjects ahead of what was supposed to be a fight on BKFC KnuckleMania 5.
'The Disciple' was set to fight JD Burns during the promotion's Jan. 25 debut in Philadelphia, but the welterweight bout was canceled. In July 2011, though, Pague was making his way through the TUF house before eventually losing points to TJ Dillashaw during The Ultimate Fighter season 14.
Dillashaw went on to become a multi-time UFC champion at 135 pounds but Dvalishvili has a case for bantamweight GOAT status, considering his overall resume in the fall out of his UFC 311 title defense handing Umar Nurmagomedov his first loss in MMA. Addressing his thoughts on who the greatest of all time at bantamweight is, Pague said:
"I mean since I fought TJ, I'm gonna have to go with him. Makes me look cool. But yeah, it's funny, fighting TJ when I was that young in our semi final fight, one, I was happy he wasn't able to finish me. But I could just tell fighting him that he was gonna be something special. Like he was; just every area of his game was just so quickly evolving."
"Because when I fought him; I don't think he was that much into MMA. I think he had like a 4-0 or 5-0 record coming into the house but you could just tell fighting that dude that he had what it took. He definitely is one of the best of all time at 135."
Check out Dustin Pague's thoughts on MMA's bantamweight GOAT below (12:27):
Merab Dvalishvili has more history to make according to former champion
Merab Dvalishvili is already considered one of MMA's best 135-pound fighters ever but he could potentially underscore it that much more in the coming years according to a former divisional kingpin.
Aljamain Sterling set the UFC title defense record at bantamweight with three consecutive defenses, but Dvalishvili's long-time teammate and friend thinks the Georgia native will beat his record.
Sterling initially stated this to MMA Junkie where he quipped that he told Dvalishvili he could be champ for a while, that he could break the divisional title defense record, and that the only person who could beat Dvalishvili right now is the 34-year-old reigning titleholder himself. Sterling also ranks Dvalishvili favorably in the current UFC pound-for-pound rankings these days.