Merab Dvalishvili shares two-word reaction as MMA great Demetrious Johnson announces retirement from the sport
Merab Dvalishvili needed a few words to sum up the career of all-time great Demetrious Johnson, who recently retired from MMA. Johnson is one of the most talented fighters to grace the sport, and provided fans with an entire catalog of memorable moments.
'Mighty Mouse' competed in the UFC from 2011 until 2018, during which he put together one of the greatest careers in promotional history. Johnson holds records for the most consecutive UFC title defenses (11), most successful title defenses in UFC history (11) and the most submissions in UFC title fights (5).
In 2018, the former UFC champion was traded to ONE Championship for Ben Askren, where the flyweight went 5-1, winning and successfully defending the ONE Flyweight MMA title.
But at the recent ONE Championship event held in Denver, Colorado, the MMA legend announced his retirement from the sport.
With many fans and pundits regarding 'Mighty Mouse' as arguably the greatest MMA fighter of all time, the current UFC bantamweight title challenger took to X to share two words following Johnson's retirement. He wrote:
"Real Goat."
See Merab Dvalishvili's reaction to Demetrious Johnson retiring below:
Merab Dvalishvili's cut is target number one for Sean O'Malley
Sean O'Malley will put his bantamweight title on the line come Noche UFC 306 when he faces off against the relentless Merab Dvalishvili in the main event.
The Georgian has been on the cusp of a title shot for several years, but close friend and teammate Aljamain Sterling's championship reign at bantamweight saw Dvalishvili refuse to fight for the title.
Following O'Malley's win over Sterling at UFC 292, 'The Machine' was thrust firmly into the title picture. However, the bantamweight title fight was nearly over before it began as Dvalishvili suffered a cut above his eye in training several weeks ago.
He took to Instagram to share footage of him receiving stitches for the cut, to the frustration of UFC CEO Dana White.
During a recent interview with Kevin Iole, 'Suga' discussed his opponent's fresh cut, saying:
"I am a 100% going to open up that cut whether it's healed or not... I don't know how much it can heal, I've never really had any bad cuts so I'm not sure. But I'm gonna be, you know, that's the left side of his face, this right hand doesn't miss. So yeah, it just adds I think."
Watch O'Malley discuss Merab Dvalishvili below (6:00):