Media Merab's HC: "If Merab Beats Umar No QUESTION He's BW GOAT"

[NoSmilez]

Aldo at bw has only lost to great fighters. It's still a very very strong win and when aldo lost that fight he was streaking and probably on the cusp of a title shot. Yes he's not in his prime but that's a good win

Yan is a phenomenal fighter in his prime and merab manhandled. Didn't just "beat him," this is where you don't want to apply the correct context he dominated and neutralised him like he didn't belong. It was more than just "beating Yan" (Yan is my second favourite bw ever, behind only tj)

Cejudo may be old, but just came off a title fight against sterling that some people think he won. Cejudo is one of the greatest fighters to fight at these lower weight classes I acknowledge he's not in his prime but his wheel house is the wrestling and merab dominated him there.


That is me contextualizing his wins. Now compare to sterling who arguably lost to Yan, and cejudo and fought a heavily compromised TJ. He has the most title defenses of any bw champ. But I would never put him over merab, or Cruz. Again unless you think sterling is the bw goat because of defenses you're agreeing with me.

With context applied merab has been very very impressive at bw. And Umar is a younger undefeated fighter. Imo a champ beating a younger undefeated fighter is the strongest defense you can have. I am acknowledging Umar as a notably strong title defense. Just like Izzy Vs Costa, till Vs Woodley

Cruz is still respectably in the arguement but all the time he spends injured on and off hurts his rate. In the UFC he has the continuous win over TJ and a dominant win over faber and MM

Yan fought Merab with a torn shoulder. Aldo and Cejudo aren't real contenders anymore. They aged out. They can be competitive in some fights but they aren't title material. The only other fighter that can take long time off and come back is Cruz and he did it twice in his career. He failed when he tried it for the 3rd time in his career.

Being undefeated doesn't matter if you haven't fought anyone outside of Sandhagen. Umar got fast tracked to a title shot. Costa had to fight Yoel for that title shot. Till had to fight a gatekeeper and a former challenger in the division. People still complained Till didn't deserve the shot.

My premise is simply if Merab isn't the GOAT now then he shouldn't be the GOAT if he beats Umar. It makes no sense. Umar has done nothing yet. We don't know how his career is going to unfold. He might be able to go on a ten fight run or he can also lose his next fights.

 

[tritestill]

Guy had to win a billion fights before getting the belt and people want to use the "Those were not title fights" bs lol. Yan, Cejudo, Aldo...man stfu. Level of comp was at championship level without him having a belt.

 

[Streeter]

Prime Cruz or DJ wreck merab - MM would even likely beat him at 135 in his prime

 

[HHJ]

Cejudo and Aldo were clearly past it when he beat them, so its not as good as it looks on paper

 

[RockyLockridge]

Yan fought Merab with a torn shoulder. Aldo and Cejudo aren't real contenders anymore. They aged out. They can be competitive in some fights but they aren't title material. The only other fighter that can take long time off and come back is Cruz and he did it twice in his career. He failed when he tried it for the 3rd time in his career.

Being undefeated doesn't matter if you haven't fought anyone outside of Sandhagen. Umar got fast tracked to a title shot. Costa had to fight Yoel for that title shot. Till had to fight a gatekeeper and a former challenger in the division. People still complained Till didn't deserve the shot.

My premise is simply if Merab isn't the GOAT now then he shouldn't be the GOAT if he beats Umar. It makes no sense. Umar has done nothing yet. We don't know how his career is going to unfold. He might be able to go on a ten fight run or he can also lose his next fights.

Aldo was on a 3 fight win streak and one of those wins was against Marlon vera who got a title shot before merab did. You say they can be competitive in some fights but aren't title material but Cejudo literally lost a split decision in a title fight the fight before that, So I'm really not sure how you can say that with a straight face. They aren't real contenders when you want to discount merab. That is the only time. Also winning the title from a champion who is younger than you is a great feat aswell, especially at the lower weightclasses.


I agree he's not the the goat yet, but he's already done so much at the top of this division and with such sheer dominance. After Umar, There's no one left to trouble him. It's not that he's beating aldo cejudo and yan, It's HOW he's beating aldo cejudo and yan. you can tell yourself aldo and Cejudo are aged out all you want. But I didn't see the bw champ beat Cejudo so easy. Aldo gave yan a tougher time in his title fight, and on the way to the merab fight beat a future title contender in vera.

Prime Cruz or DJ wreck merab - MM would even likely beat him at 135 in his prime

TJ vs merab would be interesting. Maybe the only fight at BW i'd pick against merab. I think That Merab would make orange juice out of Cruz though.

Cejudo and Aldo were clearly past it when he beat them, so its not as good as it looks on paper

Cejudo came off a split decision loss to the champ, a more resonable take would be that Cejudo is not that good of a BW but a much more decorated Flyweight. Which I'm Inclined to agree with.

 

[RockyLockridge]

Guy had to win a billion fights before getting the belt and people want to use the "Those were not title fights" bs lol. Yan, Cejudo, Aldo...man stfu. Level of comp was at championship level without him having a belt.

Yeah but watch, If umar won this title and defended 3 times we'd have him in the goat talks immediately.

People just dislike merab for reasons. Maybe good reasons, maybe stupid reasons but his skill sets and abillities are always seemingly massively over looked.

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

GOAT with one finish in 13 UFC fights against a chinny/semi-washed Moraes that almost KO'd him like 3 times?



Winning fights by controlling/gassing opponents is impressive, but it's not the type of thing we idolize or aspire to. Need to see far more dominance and violence to even be in the conversation.

 

[gentel]

I mean the head coach is obviously biased towards his guy but he's not wrong. It's like with Belal - the elite wins you get on the way to the title can matter just as much as the title wins

 

[RockyLockridge]

I mean the head coach is obviously biased towards his guy but he's not wrong. It's like with Belal - the elite wins you get on the way to the title can matter just as much as the title wins

I already Have belal ahead of Leon with 0 title defenses.

 

[MMAALLDAYBAYBAY]

he's atleast an undefeated contender. And it doesn't matter if they are title fights. Islam isn't going to be the LW goat for breaking the defense record because it's against career FW's and dustin Poirier. Defenses aren't everything. Some people like Jamalalalah hill get title fights with no top 5 wins. Top 5 wins are more important

Well said regarding Islam. Context matters.

 

[swizztony]

I mean, his resume would be Umar, Cejudo, Aldo, Yan, O‘’malley, and Moraes then. That would definitely be the goat bw resume and it’s not even close

 

[NoSmilez]

Aldo was on a 3 fight win streak and one of those wins was against Marlon vera who got a title shot before merab did. You say they can be competitive in some fights but aren't title material but Cejudo literally lost a split decision in a title fight the fight before that, So I'm really not sure how you can say that with a straight face. They aren't real contenders when you want to discount merab. That is the only time. Also winning the title from a champion who is younger than you is a great feat aswell, especially at the lower weightclasses.

I don't know if you paid attention to my posts but I always made comments about how Aldo's streak is based on beating old fighters in the division. He isn't championship material. I also said Marlon isn't that good because he was on an old folks home tour as well.

Cejudo has aged out. I don't know what you want from it. I don't think he even wins his next fight against Yadong.

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

Well it's hard to call him a GOAT with his "spam takedowns and do nothing with them" style, but he will certainly at least be the most efficient BW of all time in his rounds won vs rounds lost stats.

I guess prime Cruz would be over him but not many more. TJ was on epo during his best performances (the shirtless sparring on the luggage carousel was to make sure he didn't form blood clots) so I dont even consider him an option.

 

[Eric Silva 2.0]

Aldo at bw has only lost to great fighters. It's still a very very strong win and when aldo lost that fight he was streaking and probably on the cusp of a title shot. Yes he's not in his prime but that's a good win

Yan is a phenomenal fighter in his prime and merab manhandled. Didn't just "beat him," this is where you don't want to apply the correct context he dominated and neutralised him like he didn't belong. It was more than just "beating Yan" (Yan is my second favourite bw ever, behind only tj)

Cejudo may be old, but just came off a title fight against sterling that some people think he won. Cejudo is one of the greatest fighters to fight at these lower weight classes I acknowledge he's not in his prime but his wheel house is the wrestling and merab dominated him there.


That is me contextualizing his wins. Now compare to sterling who arguably lost to Yan, and cejudo and fought a heavily compromised TJ. He has the most title defenses of any bw champ. But I would never put him over merab, or Cruz. Again unless you think sterling is the bw goat because of defenses you're agreeing with me.

With context applied merab has been very very impressive at bw. And Umar is a younger undefeated fighter. Imo a champ beating a younger undefeated fighter is the strongest defense you can have. I am acknowledging Umar as a notably strong title defense. Just like Izzy Vs Costa, till Vs Woodley

Cruz is still respectably in the arguement but all the time he spends injured on and off hurts his rate. In the UFC he has the continuous win over TJ and a dominant win over faber and MM.

Umar could beat merab and defend 4 times, but I'd hold his lack of top wins on the way up against him. Because it isn't JUST about title defenses some people have a harder road to becoming champ than others. Umar has an easy road because nepotism and it absolutely does matter in my eyes

"but I'd hold his lack of top wins on the way up against him."

I wouldn't. It's obvious to me that you could've matched up Umar with Rob Font and Chito before giving him a crack at Sandhagen. Those fights wouldn't be competitive. Font couldn't stop Cory's wrestling and there is enough tape on Chito to understand outside of a hail mary KO, there is no path to victory for him against Umar. It would've just delayed Umar another year to give him a couple of those type of fights. Umar beating Cory shows he deserves the fight against Merab without those fights. Just fo the record, I havd Merab as a slight favorite in this fight.

 

[RockyLockridge]

"but I'd hold his lack of top wins on the way up against him."

I wouldn't. It's obvious to me that you could've matched up Umar with Rob Font and Chito before giving him a crack at Sandhagen. Those fights wouldn't be competitive. Font couldn't stop Cory's wrestling and there is enough tape on Chito to understand outside of a hail mary KO, there is no path to victory for him against Umar. It would've just delayed Umar another year to give him a couple of those type of fights. Umar beating Cory shows he deserves the fight against Merab without those fights. Just fo the record, I havd Merab as a slight favorite in this fight.

I understand where you're coming from, and generally I agree that Umar would probably beat chito and font easily. A forgone Conclusion that is a waste of time, but the fact of the matter is he simply hasn't. What one has or has not done is what determines if you're the GOAT or not. I also think Merab would destroy Font and chito, but Im going to add it to his list of ranked wins because he simpy hasn't beat them.

 

[ChangeIsComing]

Nah, I admire Merabs grit, toughness and cardio...but he has been consistently boring as fucking hell. He chooses avoid fighting a lot and prefers holding people, I means its a valid tactic but I would not consider him great because of it.

 

[Tweak896]

He went from Umar doesn't deserve title shot to if he beats him he's BW GOAT. Honestly though whoever wins this should run the division for awhile. Merab still needs more than 1 defense.

 

[Azure]

Looking at his fight resume of who he's beaten.. Yan, O'Malley, Aldo, Cejudo, and Umar(if he wins)
Does he have a point?!

Coach: Merab Dvalishvili bantamweight GOAT if he beats Umar Nurmagomedov

John Wood argues that Merab Dvalishvili could separate himself with a win at UFC 311.

mmajunkie.usatoday.com

Lol, Nope

 

[Preston broadus]

Mini Jon fitch

 

[TCE]

14 decisions out of 18 wins is no fucking GOAT.