At Newark’s Prudential Center today, reigning bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili made history by crushing the comeback hopes of former titleholder Sean O’Malley in their highly anticipated rematch. In a dominant, one-sided performance, ‘The Machine’ overwhelmed ‘Suga’ with crisp striking and relentless, heavyweight-caliber wrestling. He closed the show in the third round, submitting O’Malley with a north-south choke, making it look effortless.

The emphatic win not only marked Merab Dvalishvili’s second successful title defense but also extended his head-to-head dominance over Sean O’Malley to 2-0. With this performance, he firmly solidified his place among the bantamweight division’s all-time greats. But the Georgian native’s night of milestones didn’t end there. With his latest victory, he stretched his winning streak to 13—a feat that places him in elite company. Not even Conor McGregor managed such a run.

Merab Dvalishvili now stands alongside MMA legends like Jon Jones, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Georges St-Pierre, Max Holloway, and Demetrious Johnson, all of whom carved out historic winning streaks during their golden eras. Paying tribute to ‘The Machine’s remarkable accomplishment, reigning heavyweight champion ‘Bones’ took to X to write, “Welcome and congratulations @MerabDvalishvil.”

Fresh off his dominant submission win over Sean O’Malley, Merab Dvalishvili wasted no time setting his sights on Cory Sandhagen as his next target. The 34-year-old made it clear he has no intention of slowing down, with plans to compete at least once or even twice more before the year wraps up.

Although he’s now riding an impressive 13-fight win streak and entering rarefied air, ‘The Machine’ still has a few hurdles to clear before catching up to Anderson Silva’s legendary 16-fight undefeated run—the longest in UFC history. But if he can reach that milestone before time catches up with him, Merab Dvalishvili will have a serious claim to the title of one of the greatest fighters in UFC history.

Fighter who last defeated Merab Dvalishvili shares blueprint for beating him

Back in 2017, Merab Dvalishvili joined the world’s largest MMA promotion, determined to make his mark in the sport. However, his momentum was halted that same year when his six-fight win streak ended with a split-decision loss to Frankie Saenz in his UFC debut. The setbacks continued in 2018, as ‘The Machine’ suffered a controversial defeat against Ricky Simon, who submitted him with a guillotine choke in the final seconds of the third round. That marked the Georgian’s second consecutive UFC loss—just before he began the historic win streak that would define his career.

Now 32, Ricky Simon has recently found his footing again. Earlier this year at UFC Seattle, he snapped a three-fight losing streak with a spectacular knockout of Javid Basharat during the preliminary card. In the post-fight press conference, Simon—still the last man to beat Merab Dvalishvili—was asked about the key to stopping the current bantamweight champion. He laid out his formula,

“He puts on all the wrestling attempts whether he’s going to get it or not, so you have to just be ready for that. You got to have the cardio to be able to put up with those attempts and then you have to have the ability to get up too, which I got.”

However, despite Ricky Simon’s strategy, Sean O’Malley’s journey took a harsh turn today inside the T-Mobile Arena. Do you think anyone can dethrone the Georgian fighter anytime soon? Drop your opinion below.