Top 5 bantamweights in UFC history who could've tested Merab Dvalishvili feat. Dominick Cruz and TJ Dillashaw
Right now, Merab Dvalishvili sits head and shoulders above the rest of the UFC's bantamweights. The reigning 135-pound champion most recently made his first title defense, beating Umar Nurmagomedov.
Merab Dvalishvili might be the best bantamweight in the UFC right now, but could some of the past greats at 135 pounds have tested him?
While 'The Machine' is a great champion, no fighter is unbeatable - and some of the champions from previous generations definitely would've stood a chance against him.
Here are five bantamweights in UFC history who could've tested Merab Dvalishvili.
#5. Renan Barao - former UFC bantamweight champion
While his UFC career largely ended in disgrace, with five straight losses, at his peak, Renan Barao was a truly great fighter.
'The Baron' arrived in the promotion from the WEC in early 2011 and quickly established himself as a fighter to be watched.
He beat contenders like Brad Pickett and Scott Jorgensen with ease, and then dismantled Urijah Faber in the summer of 2012 to claim the interim title.
When Dominick Cruz's injury issues kept him out for longer than expected, Barao found himself upgraded to become undisputed champion. From there, he made three successful defenses, finishing all three foes, before T.J. Dillashaw dethroned him in 2014.
Barao's time on top did not last all that long. However, that may have been a legacy of his lengthy fighting career prior to arriving in the UFC. At the peak of his powers, he was riding a ridiculous 34-fight unbeaten streak.
So could peak Barao have tested Merab Dvalishvili? Absolutely. With a lethal striking game and a high-level black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, 'The Baron' had skills everywhere.
Whether his cardio would've held up to the insane pressure that 'The Machine' brings is another thing, of course. Despite that, prime Barao would definitely have been one of the most offensively dangerous foes the Georgian would've faced, giving him at least a chance of victory.
#4. Miguel Torres - former WEC bantamweight champion
It's absolutely safe to say that UFC fans didn't get to see the best of Miguel Torres. However, the Chicago native is still widely recognised as one of the greatest bantamweights ever, and for good reason.
Torres came up in an MMA world that rarely featured fighters as small as him. That meant that a huge number of his early bouts saw him beating up far larger opponents, often in low-level settings.
By the time he arrived in the WEC in 2007, he held a ridiculous record of 32-1, with the lone loss being one he later avenged. Many observers suggesed that his record could be even more extensive, with many fights going unrecorded.
At any rate, Torres tore a path of destruction through the WEC's 135 pound division, claiming the title in just his second bout there. With a praying mantis-like striking game and lethal ground skills, he didn't appear to have any weaknesses.
Unfortunately, Torres' wild schedule eventually caught up with him. He was knocked out by the unheralded Brian Bowles in 2009, and never fully recovered.
Even past his best in the UFC, though, he was unfortunate not to earn a shot at bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz when he lost a controversial judges' decision to future flyweight king Demetrious Johnson.
In his prime, then, Torres was remarkably hard to beat. He had the ability to use his long reach to keep a foe at the end of his punches. On the ground, meanwhile, those long arms also made him lethal with chokes.
Torres would perhaps have found the wrestling skills of Merab Dvalishvili hard to handle, as we saw in hsi fight with Johnson. However, with dangerous finishing skills from every area, it would also have been impossible to count him out against 'The Machine'.
#3. Cody Garbrandt - former UFC bantamweight champion
Few fighters in UFC history suffered as rapid a fall from grace as former bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt. However, his rapid rise up the rankings was phenomenal, and he remains widely recognised as an all-time great.
Debuting as a protege of the legendary Urijah Faber, 'No Love' reeled off five straight wins after his debut in 2015. His knockouts of longtime contenders Thomas Almeida and Takeya Mizugaki moved him into title contention, setting up a shot at then-champ Dominick Cruz.
Remarkably, the young and less experienced Garbrandt then picked Cruz apart with some of the best boxing ever seen in the octagon, becoming bantamweight champion whilst still undefeated in MMA.
Unfortunately, a pair of defeats to his teammate-turned-bitter rival T.J. Dillashaw not only saw him lose his title, but derailed his career entirely. Since his first loss to Dillashaw, 'No Love' has won just three fights, although he remains part of the UFC's roster.
It seems crazy to suggest that a fighter like Garbrandt, who could be seen as a flash in the pan, could've tested Merab Dvalishvili.
However, the truth is that before he really suffered a downturn, 'No Love' only had one real weakness - a tendency to get drawn into brawls that his chin could not handle.
Dvalishvili likely wouldn't have drawn him into that kind of brawl, and there's no doubt that 'No Love' had superior striking to the Georgian. Therefore, while it would be difficult to justify picking Garbrandt to beat Dvalishvili, it definitely would not have been impossible.
#2. Dominick Cruz - former UFC bantamweight champion
While it's probably arguable at this stage that his title reigns were underwhelming, many fans still consider Dominick Cruz the greatest bantamweight in UFC history.
'The Dominator' arrived in the promotion as the inaugural 135 pound champion, having transferred over from the WEC in early 2011. He quickly cemented himself as the division's top dog, too, reeling off two title defenses against Urijah Faber and Demetrious Johnson.
With a brand of slick striking based around top-class footwork, inpenetrable takedown defense and excellent offensive wrestling, Cruz basically had no weaknesses to speak of.
However, injuries wrecked Cruz's reign as champ, forcing him to vacate his crown in 2012. Between October 2011 and January 2016, 'The Dominator' fought just once, beating up Takeya Mizugaki in 2014.
Remarkably, though, Cruz still managed to defeat T.J. Dillashaw in 2016 to claim the title for the second time and made one successful defense before losing to Cody Garbrandt.
'The Dominator' still remains part of the UFC's roster today, although he's a shadow of his former self now and is arguably more recognizable as a commentator.
Could Cruz have tested or even beaten Merab Dvalishvili, though? It's definitely possible. One of the biggest strengths of 'The Dominator' was his cardio, and he would likely have welcomed Dvalishvili attempting to push the pace on him.
If he could've avoided the takedowns of 'The Machine', then, he could well have picked the Georgian apart standing - marking him as a clear-cut contender as a fighter who could've given Dvalishvili problems.
#1. T.J. Dillashaw - former UFC bantamweight champion
While he recently named his old rival Cody Garbrandt as the toughest possible opponent for Merab Dvalishvili, the truth is that the fighter who would've been most capable of beating 'The Machine' is T.J. Dillashaw.
Dillashaw hung up his gloves in 2022 after a failed attempt to reclaim the bantamweight title ended with him being stopped by Aljamain Sterling.
However, despite his status as one of the most controversial fighters in UFC history, peak Dillashaw was a near-unstoppable force in the octagon.
Initially, Dillashaw emerged on the 14th season of The Ultimate Fighter as a protege of Urijah Faber, a largely one-dimensional wrestler with some submission skills.
It was clear that he was a tremendous athletic talent, though, and once he began to hone his kickboxing game under the tutelage of Duane 'Bang' Ludwig, his rise was impossible to stop.
Dillashaw tore through everyone he faced, ending in his dominating title win over Renan Barao in the summer of 2014. The next four years saw Dillashaw loom large over the division, as he had two title reigns, and his only loss came in controversial fashion against Dominick Cruz.
Dillashaw's time on top came to an end in 2019. His ill-advised decision to move to 125 pounds in an attempt to become a simultaneous double champion backfired when he lost to Henry Cejudo. He was then suspended for a lengthy period after testing positive for EPO.
However, despite the controversy this caused, it's easy to forget what a force of nature he was in his prime. No other bantamweight could chain the kind of combinations together that Dillashaw could, and if he needed it, he could easily fall back on his top-class wrestling and submission game.
Could the Dillashaw that defeated Barao and Garbrandt given Dvalishvili a run for his money? Absolutely. In fact, he probably would've been favored to beat the Georgian.